There was a time, not so long ago, when Google Glass was the talk of the town. Companies and individuals alike became ecstatic over the ability to fit a tiny computer screen over their eye. But once the dust cleared and the hyped settled down, many people have began to question the little camera that you can’t quite tell if it was on or off. Well, a German artist has become tired of wondering and has apparently come up with a crafty method of answering that question.
His name is Julian Oliver and his solution to the problem was to just simply disconnect the tech eyewear from the internet. Oliver has done so by identifying a unique string of characters located in any Google Glass MAC address. All you have to do is connect a USB network antenna to a Raspberry Pi or Beaglebone mini-computer, and then the computer goes ahead and runs the program.
The software will then automatically disconnect or block any Glass device that attempts to connect to the WiFi network. It even emits a beep when a user is caught trying to connect. The program is fittingly dubbed Glasshole.sh. The idea was hatched after Oliver heard about a NYU student who had posted a negative review of Glass wearers at a school exhibition event. Oliver wrote, “It was not possible to know whether they were recording, or even streaming what they were recording to a remote service over WiFi.”
He has not been the only one with such concerns. Shortly after Google Glass’s release, many institution began banning the eyewear. At this point the script is mostly an unproven demonstration, though Oliver was successful at bumping Google Glass from his own network during a testing. If the program does prove that it is capable of being repeated on a broad scale, then there might just be a chance that we can protect ourselves from the see all device after all. Oliver argues that there is nothing illegal about the jammer as long as the computer running it is owned by the same person who owns the network.
Julian, however, has warned that the same principles he used to construct this current jammer could be used to create a more aggressive program. He has already admitted that he plans to start constructing another program that will be capable of knocking any Google Glass off of any network. Oliver stated, “These are cameras, highly surreptitious in nature, with network backup function and no external indication of recording.” The 40 year old German is adamant that he has the right to know if he is being recorded, and there are plenty of people willing to back him up.
Photo: Courtesy of Julian Oliver
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