<原著論文>スマートグラスに関するプライバシーの問題

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to address privacy issues over the use of the smart glasses. Smart glasses enable their users to obtain contextually relevant information in real-time in a hands-free manner. However, the use of smart glasses has been considered to cause various privacy issues. In Section 1, we briefly explain what smart glasses are, tracking the developmental history of smart glasses. In Section 2, we explain the concept of privacy as the right to be let alone and distinguish it into two kinds: one regarding personal data and another regarding autonomy in decision-making. Based on this conceptual distinction, Section 3 reviews potential privacy issues for people using smart glasses and those seen through them. For instance, some smart glasses applications may deteriorate their users' autonomy in decision-making. Perhaps smart glasses users may collect personal information about the people around them without consent. Section 4 proposes possible solutions to those privacy issues and presents further challenges. In particular, we discuss (1) the possibility that the proper use of smart glasses enhances our rational/cognitive capacities to make autonomous decisions rather than impairing them, (2) the possibility that some smart glasses applications, such as the one to blur faces in the user's visual field, serve to protect the privacy of surrounding people, (3) the possibility that the widespread use of smart glasses radically alters our sense of privacy in such a way that we do not expect to see others' faces even in the public sphere. We also propose several technical methods to effectively obtain informed consent for collecting personal information through smart glasses.