Google Glass Ban List Grows

Don’t be surprised if the number of locations continue to increase, but for now, here are the top 10 places that have banned Google Glass.

10. Banks/ATMs

In this crazy age of identity theft it’s not exactly far-fetched for banks to be wary of Google Glass. It seems completely plausible for a wearer to sneak in behind a customer and snap a quick picture of their personal information, such as their ID or bank account info.

9. Sports Arenas/Concert Venues

If you frequent a sporting event or concert you’re already aware that most of the time you’ll get denied recording the event. Of course, this was easier before everyone had a smartphone, but security has adjusted and are quick to scold you if you’re caught recording. Because these locations already ban cameras, it’s not a stretch to believe that Google Glass is banned as well.

8. Locker Rooms/Dressing Rooms

It’s one thing for someone to take a picture of us without knowing in a public location. It’s a completely different beast if someone snapped a pic of you in your birthday suit. To help protect people at their most vulnerable, locations where people are naked definitely have to ban Google Glass for precautionary measures.

And let’s not forget the etiquette of wearing Google Glass in the men’s room.

7. Movie Theaters

Film privacy is already a major concern for the film industry. Like concerts and sporting events, it was easier to spot pirates before smartphones, but theaters still crackdown on anyone caught recording a movie. Still, having a camera at eye-level is something completely different. Do you really think that a movie theater would allow a person wearing glasses equipped with a video recorder inside?

6. Cars

Legislators in states like West Virginia and Arizona are concerned about their citizens safety while driving, which is why these states are attempting to ban people from “using a wearable computer with head mounted display.” This measure will most likely be followed by the 39 other states and Washington D.C. who have already prohibited texting while driving. Glassing & Driving is already set to be banned in the UK. Read more >>

ID Theft Fraud At All-Time High

Toss out all your preconceived notions about identity theft impacting older people in big cities who mainly do business via “snail mail”–i.e. the mailbox. A new government report gives insight on where it’s happening and to whom…and it may not be who, where, or how you think!

At least two million people across the country are recovering from identity theft. The fraud is at an all-time high, according to the Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book, a report released by the Federal Trade Commission.

“I don’t know how but someone over in Colorado at the time, got my information,” says 28-year-old Clarity Smith.

The Plano woman is the typical identity theft victim. She’s in her 20’s and a recent college graduate who spends a lot of time on the computer.

“They had my social security, driver’s license, billing address….”

After finishing college, Smith posted applications on several online job sites. She suspects that’s how someone in Denver stole her identity.

“They went from department store to department store at three different malls over two days and opened up lines of credit.” Read more >>

Sales of Home Safes Skyrocket Over Anger and Distrust of Banks

In an era marked by financial turbulence, it's probably not surprising that safes have become a popular commodity, with some manufacturers, retailers and installers reporting sales increases of as much as 40 percent from a few years ago. 

In a Gallup poll last year, a record-high 36 percent of Americans said they had "very little" or "no" confidence in U.S. banks. (In 2008 and 2009, when the financial crisis was peaking, that figure stood at 22 and 29 percent, respectively.) And growing concern about identity theft has made some people more eager to keep their assets in a form they can see and count, says R. Brent Lang, an investment manager in Surrey, British Columbia: "By acquiring one password, someone can wipe out all your digital wealth," he says. More...

Microchip Implant to Link Health Records, Credit History, Social Security

By Jim Edwards
Novartis and Proteus Biomedical are not the only companies hoping to implant microchips into patients so that their pill-popping habits can be monitored. VeriChip of Delray Beach, Fl., has an even bolder idea: an implanted chip that links to an online database containing all your medical records, credit history and your social security ID.

As this presentation to investors makes clear, the chip and its database could form the basis of a new national identity database lined to Social Security and NationalCreditReport.com. The VeriMed Health Link homepage describes the chip:

… a tiny, passive microchip (the nation’s first and only microchip cleared for patient identification by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration) and a secure, private online database that links you to your personal health record. Your Health Link is always with you and cannot be lost or stolen.

That database can be accessed by doctors and nurses:

About the size of a grain of rice, the microchip is inserted just under the skin and contains only a unique, 16-digit identifier. The microchip itself does not contain any other data other than this unique electronic ID, nor does it contain any Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking capabilities. And unlike conventional forms of identification, the Health Link cannot be lost, stolen, misplaced, or counterfeited. It is safe, secure, reversible, and always with you.

But VeriChip’s ambitions don’t end there, as this diagram indicates:

Yes, it shows your Health Link chip linked to Google, Microsoft, employers and insurers. The company also sees the VeriMed Health Link linked to your “identity security services,” through a separate VeriChip product, PositiveID. This slide show states:

PositiveID puts people in control of their personal health records and financial information, bridging the gap between secure medical records and identity security

PositiveID dovetails with Health Link:

Cross marketing opportunities: cross-sell the NationalCreditReport.com customer base the Health Link personal health record and vice-versa

Differentiates PositiveID as the only personal health record that offers identity theft protection

It’s a future in which your doctor tags you like a dog with a microchip that allows anyone with the right privileges to look at your medical records, credit history, social security number (see slide 6), and anything else that stems from that.

Suddenly, storing medical records on paper in locked cabinets inside a single doctor’s office starts to look like something we may not want to rush to give up.