Wearable computing technology developed and deployed in the next 15 years will create fundamental challenges to personal privacy law. This paper reviews current legal precedents in privacy and surveillance law and identifies some of the issues that courts will inevitably be asked to address. We focus on one particular capability of future mobile computing devices: the ability to act as long-term archiving devices and memory aids by continuously recording everyday experiences from on-body sensors such as cameras and microphones. We discuss how the law and social expectations may need to change to prevent the erosion of privacy protection as the use of wearable computing technology becomes pervasive throughout our society.

Privacy, wearable computing, video recording, audio recording, mobile, augmented reality.

Google Glass, head-mounted displays, mobile phones.