HOW would you feel if anyone could take a photo of you, anywhere you go, without you knowing?

In a sense it’s already happening, and has been for some years. The nation’s high streets, festooned with CCTV cameras, are photographing most of us all the time.

But critics of Google’s Glass technology (google.com/glass) worry that the wearable computer – complete with built-in camera – represents an altogether new invasion of people’s privacy.

The issue is as much about permission as it is about privacy.

After all, it’s legal to use a normal camera to take photos on any public street.

But because a camera is generally visible, the act of taking the photo is public. People can see where you’re pointing the lens.

Not so with a tiny wearable camera.

Not just Glass, but other devices that clip on to clothes like a clothes peg.

Some of them don’t even need to be told to take pictures - some simply take pictures all day long, recording everything their owner sees and does.

Some are online too, automatically uploading what they record to the web.

It sounds slightly nightmarish, but be wary of over-reaction.

Walking down your local high street has always been a public act. Everyone else there could see you.

The implication of tiny, internet-connected cameras is that the public domain is now much wider. It reaches as far as the internet – pretty much everywhere. Lots of people don’t seem to think about personal privacy much anymore, as they document every tiny moment of their lives on social networks.

The web is just as much a public place as the high street now.

As the great Douglas Adams once wrote: Don’t Panic. Privacy isn’t dead. It’s just different.