Does Google Glass spell the end of the public urinal?

Young boys learn from a tender age that there are two types of blokes in this world: the ones who use the urinal and the ones who steal away to a stall for a bit of privacy. But with Google Glass soon to be photographing you with a wink, will all boys queue for the stalls to keep their pictures off the internet?

If you think people would have the decency to remove their camera-attached goggles while sharing a bathroom with strangers, you'd be wrong. There are only a limited number of the devices in use at this time, and already we have a public confession of Glass in the water closet.

Blogger, author and former Microsoft tech evangelistRobert Scoble composed said tweet this week, saying "Yes, I do wear Google Glass into public restrooms. So far no trouble." Some might say that wearing Glass in the toilet is the trouble.

A debate about privacy will naturally develop out of this and similar Glass concerns. Some public places, notably strip clubs, have already started to inform customers that Google Glass will not be welcome when it is commercially released later in the year, and this, we feel, is just the beginning.

But, should this be something that individual business owners need to decide and enforce themselves, or should we expect legislation that help define what is Glass-appropriate and what is not, just bad manners, but illegal.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt is currently lobbying to have restrictions put on how drone-style remote controlled helicopters can be used, as many of these now have cameras, and he sees this as a privacy concern. Surely, if he is concerned about helicopters flying over his back fence and filming him sunbathing he is also concerned about the man standing beside him in the bathroom with futuristic spectacles.

And then, maybe this is the dawning of a new age in our thinking about privacy. It may seem strange that we should have cameras on our heads documenting our lives, but maybe it is for us to still be sharing our ablutions with strangers. Why is it that we'd be unhappy to have this moment published online, but we are happy to share it with whoever happens to be feeling the same urge at the same time?

On second thought, scrap that last suggestion. Wearing a camera in the bathroom is just creepy, regardless of whether Google makes it or you buy it from a "spy supply" shop online. There will no doubt be some common sense rules about when to wear Glass, and when to take it off, but expect governments around the world to step in quickly too.