FreeGlass for developers, “haccessibility”, and Digital Eye Glass + Lifeglogging research in a (sur/sous)veillance society
Steve Mann, Mir Adnan Ali, Raymond Lo, Han Wu · International Conference on Information Society · 2013
This paper presents “FreeGlass”, a hands-free user-buildable wearable computer system based on Mann's “Digital Eye Glass” (also known as EyeTap) concept developed 35 years ago. Like Mann's “Eye Glass”, FreeGlass is based on free and Open Source principles consistent with a free and open i-Society. FreeGlass is suitable for researchers and creators of AR (Augmediated Reality) Glass, LifeGlogging, etc. in the information society. Two example applications of FreeGlass are also presented: Reality User Interface; and “ALIBEye”, a digital alibi through sousveillance (inverse surveillance). We note the potential for FreeGlass to bring about a transition from a surveillance society (cameras affixed to land and buildings), to a sousveillance-society (cameras held, carried, or worn by individuals). Important elements of a balanced sur/sous-veillance society are also presented with a view toward a middle-ground between a surveillance-only society where large entities record interactions but forbid individuals from keeping their own record of their sensory information, and the coming sousveillance society in which individuals are also equipped with veillance capacity, and the capacity to capture AND authenticate their own recordings as digital alibis.