Cyber Culture: The message from the Google Glass ban - get used to it

I once had the humbling experience of being admonished by a security guard in a branch of Zara for daring to take a photograph of a window display. I remember feeling indignant, and slightly surprised, that preventing photography was part of a clothes store security guard's remit.

But the question of what constitutes acceptable use of a camera in public is to become even more thorny with the imminent arrival of Google Glass, the computerised specs with a built-in camera.

Some have downplayed the invasive nature of the device, pointing out that you have to either speak to or touch the glasses to activate the camera. But an innovative developer has already worked out how to activate Google Glass with a wink – a combination of invasive and creepy.

Google Glass has already been pre-emptively banned by a bar in Seattle, and West Virginia state is attempting to prevent drivers wearing them; while bans will also stop them being sported in the casinos and strip clubs of Las Vegas.

The question is how far the antipathy towards Google Glass will extend: gyms, cinemas, schools and hospitals would seem likely to start laying down the law.

Google says that "behaviours and social norms will develop over time", or, in other words, we'll get used to it. But Google Glass is likely to make us feel far uneasier for far longer.

In this week's Cyber Culture:

Video ads might be annoying, but they make sense

Adobe heads for the Creative Cloud. A nebulous way to cash in?