Look closely at the photo above. See anything unusual about my sunglasses?
No? Good, because it isn't a trick question. There is absolutely nothing special about my sunglasses. They're just regular sunglasses I picked up in Berlin a few months ago.
And yet, this morning, as I rode to work on a packed New York City subway train, someone mistook them for Snapchat Spectacles.
"Sorry for asking. Are those Snapchat Spectacles?" asked a 20-something year old woman. She must have thought I was possibly recording her when I placed my hand up to the stems of my regular sunglasses to readjust them.
If she had been a friend, I would have joked about it and said that they were and I was recording her. (Hey, I'm a sarcastic guy!)
But since I was suddenly put in the spotlight and unexpectedly called out on a crowded train with others literally in my face, I played it straight and just told her they were not Spectacles.
Her simple "Oh" reply, didn't really clue me in on whether she was disappointed or glad they weren't Spectacles.
Naturally, I got off the train and tweeted about what happened:
Her inquiry wasn't lost on me as I bolted for work. And it got me thinking about privacy again.
When I reviewed the Spectacles, not a single person in public asked me about them. I got many, many stares at the spinning LED ring that turns on the camera's recording, but no one seemed to be curious enough to care to probe further.
I took that as a good sign for Spectacles' acceptance. Unlike Google Glass, Spectacles were intentionally designed to resemble a regular pair of sunglasses and not a computer on your face.
The fact that they blend in with regular eyewear seems like a great way to prevent being called out as some kind of public creeper surreptitiously recording people without their permission.
But now feel I might have jumped the gun on privacy and Spectacles.
The LED ring, by design, is prominently lit and forward-facing to let those around you know that they're being recorded. That's fine if you're just recording your family or friends — no problem. But in public, that's still a faux pas.
You could argue that smartphone cameras have already killed all public privacy. And indeed they have to a certain degree, but at least with a phone it's mostly (but not always) obvious when someone is in your face and recording you.
With camera glasses, especially ones that look like regular sunglasses, the boundaries to personal space in public are even less defined since there's no real social etiquette for them yet. (Though, it helps that Spectacles are sunglasses, so you wouldn't use them in bar or restaurant.)
To the common person, any pair of similarly-shaped plastic sunglasses look Spectacles, even if they aren't.
It never occurred to me that anyone would ask me if my regular sunglasses were Spectacles. It never crossed my mind that people would look at an ordinary accessory and think "Is that a camera? Is that guy recording me?"
People asking me about actual Spectacles? Yes, but not regular sunglasses.
I mean, it's clear the person on the subway didn't really know much about Spectacles, or else she would have seen I didn't have the two circles on each side of my sunglasses and that they were yellow (Spectacles only come in three colors: black, teal and coral).
And that's what worries me.
To the common person, any pair of similarly shaped plastic sunglasses look like Spectacles, even if they aren't. It's like when I show my friends a new Android phone I'm testing and they just think it's the new iPhone. The differences are in the details. And the details matter greatly when you're talking about camera glasses versus sunglasses.
My run-in this morning, I predict, is just the start of backlash on Spectacles. Though Spectacles aren't widely available, the daily hype surrounding where the Snapbot vending machine will appear next, and the long lines of people waiting to buy them, is quickly building awareness.
And if I know new product launches (and I think I know a thing or two, or else I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing), awareness is a two-way street. There's positive and negative awareness.
The positive for Spectacles is, of course, how much fun and frictionless they are to use. And circle videos.
The negative is privacy concerns and that people might start frowning on regular sunglasses in fear of being recorded.
Obviously, you should always use common sense before getting passive-aggressive on anyone wearing sunglasses that may or may not be Spectacles.
Time will tell if Spectacles become socially accepted or end up in the same junk drawer as Google Glass.
For me, the next person to ask if my regular sunglasses are Spectacles will just get a cold stare and nothing else. I'm going to keep wearing my sunglasses all year round and on the subway. Because they're fashionable and functional.
Don't get me wrong, I like Spectacles — a lot, actually — but I'm not going to let them take regular sunglasses away from me.
Topics Cybersecurity Privacy Snapchat Cameras
