Category: Gadgets

As helpful as wearables can be, they are generating a headache for business IT departments.

A leading law firm has released a statement that has provided a considerable amount of insight regarding a new view of wearable technology, which has to do with the privacy headaches that are being generated for employers.

Smartwatches and augmented reality glasses are now stepping into the workplace, with benefits and drawbacks.

As helpful as these wearable technology devices can be, they also have an intrusive side that can be utilized by workers in order to take secret videos or photographs. These are starting to cause many employers to feel a considerable amount of concern, according to a lawyer from Morrison and Foerster, Susan McLean.

There are a range of different types of privacy implications resulting from the use of wearable technology in the workplace.

According to McLean, “There are huge privacy and ethical implications around wearable technology.” She went on to express that this struggle regarding the use of wearables by employees will only continue to become greater as time goes on. As Google Glass, smartwatches, and other wearable mobile devices start to be owned and used for a growing number of purposes at home and at work, the problems with privacy and security will rise, particularly throughout the first several years of their evolution.

As this mobile technology continues to become more mainstream, it will be up to employers to come up with the necessary policies to decide exactly how workers will be able to use these devices, and then to know how to enforce these regulations. McLean provided the example that if Google Glass were used in a workplace to record videos of a meeting that includes other workers, it could be interpreted as bullying.

Another example is that an employee who is facing disciplinary action would be able to use augmented reality glasses to secretly record a meeting so that this video could be used later on in legal proceedings. Due to these types of risk, McLean cautioned that “Companies have to be very clear on how and why employees use wearable technology.”

Wearable technology is gaining a lot of momentum, but does it have any real value? There are a wide range of wearable devices that are set to be released in the coming years, some more innovative than others. Some of these devices promise to change the way people see the world, while others are designed simply to make it easier for people to keep track of their personal information. Some believe wearable devices are nothing more than novelty entertainment tools and others argue that these devices are likely to have a major impact on society, quite literally affecting the way people interact with one another in the future. The real question, however, is this: What do wearable devices do that smartphones can’t?

The question is somewhat complicated. Conventional mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are loaded with a wide range of features that are interactive in nature and designed to make people’s life somewhat more simplistic or enjoyable. The majority of these devices can be customized to suit a person’s particular needs through the use of mobile applications. Augmented reality apps can change the way people see the world, and fitness applications can help people keep track of their physical activity. Other apps can be used to manage finances or find deals at local stores or they can be used for navigational purposes. The problem with smartphones and tablets, however, is that they can only be held and not worn.

Wearable devices can do everything that conventional devices can do, but they do so in a different way. Augmented reality glasses, for example, allow AR applications to be somewhat more intuitive. The benefit of these devices, however, if that they can be operated hands-free, in most cases. Many wearable devices that are being released in the coming months feature voice recognition controls, but the responsiveness of these controls is dubious, especially in crowded areas where many people are talking at once.

Currently, wearable devices exist as a sort of novelty. These devices do not yet do anything more than what can be accomplished with conventional devices. In the future, wearable devices may be more robust, but whether or not they will be able to compete with smartphones and tablets is difficult to say for sure.