Mobile phone users can now search the web for information by focusing their handset camera on a particular object, taking a snapshot and clicking “search.” Goggles, a recently launched image-based search service by Google, compares users’ snapshots with its vast database of images, and returns a list of search results when it finds a match.

The search giant’s picture service is spearheading the trend towards on-the-spot access, bringing everyday encounters into context within a couple of clicks. Product reviews and comparisons can be done ad lib while shopping in stores. Taking a self-guided walking tour around a new city can be done with a good pair of shoes and a handheld device. The ease however, that Google brings to mobile search may come at the expense of privacy, watchdogs warn.

According to Angela Sasse, professor of computer science at University College London, Goggles poses major privacy threats as people are brought more into the public’s eye with the service’s facial-recognition capability. In response to the privacy concerns, Google recently confirmed that the feature will be disabled until implications have been further assessed.

With Goggles’ facial recognition feature, users can point their cameraphone at a total stranger, and link instantly to web pages and social networking profiles corresponding to the person.

“You might go somewhere on the assumption that you won’t be recognized. But if people find out who you are, they can see where you have been. We have seen this problem on Facebook where people have uploaded pictures from a party forgetting that their bosses can see them too,” said Sasse.

Marissa Mayer, the vice president of Google’s search product and user experience was quoted saying: “Until we understand the implications of the facial-recognition tool we have decided to make sure we block out people’s faces. We need to really understand how this tool affects people’s privacy and we cannot change that decision until we do.”

Though the face-recognition feature is currently limited in capabilities, Sasse’s fears lie with future developments. “There does seem to be a certain threshold of accuracy for face recognition that has not yet been reached. At present, you need a full-face shot. The scary thing is that the next generation [of software] will be able to use a large number of images snapped from different angles so this technology is going to get more accurate,” Sasse said.

Goggles is currently available on Google’s mobile operating system called Android and will become available to other smartphone companies in the future. Landmarks, CD covers, barcodes, books, shop fronts and business cards are some of the items it can currently identify from a database of one billion images and the list continues to grow.

Google as “Hostile to Privacy”

Google received the lowest rating out of 20 companies assessed by the human rights watchdog, Privacy International. Labeled as “hostile to privacy”, Google caused a storm of controversy with Google Maps’ feature Street View, which enables users to see high-resolution, panoramic images of certain parts of a city. Street View pictures featuring unsuspecting women in bikinis, men coming out of strip joints and protesters leaving an abortion clinic have been published online without the bystanders’ permission. It has since removed these images and set up a resource for reporting objectionable content.

The Trend towards Advertising through Surveillance

Big businesses are currently looking for ways to personalize their advertising by overtaking cell phones, car radios and billboards.

“Intelligent” digital billboards in Germany for instance, are using hidden cameras to observe the emotional reactions of potential customers surveying their ads. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), this type of surveillance could eventually lead to the tracking of individuals and their shopping habits in-person and in real-time.

Japan is now employing advanced methods of targeted marketing, which involve the use of facial recognition technology to scan for the viewer’s sex and age to in turn provide them with ads targeted to their demographic.

There is also the public threat of biometric profiling – a standard tool for spotting a person from a crowd, in a street or at passport control. This technology uses facial measurements, iris patterns and fingerprints for identification.

Bruce Schneier, a security technology officer warns that these systems are likely to push the boundaries of privacy, becoming increasingly invasive over time.

Governments around the world are now wising up to this trend with legislations in the works to protect citizens’ privacy worldwide.

Sources:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/privacy-implications-have-google-running-scared-1839884.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8280564.stm
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/28543

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