When you’re not having crazy Google Glass sex, maybe you’d like to go see a movie. Movies are fun! But beware — if you wear your Glass, you might find yourself with an unexpected date. Specifically an FBI agent and 5-10 cronies.
According to The Gadgeteer, that’s what happened to an unnamed moviegoer in Columbus, Ohio, when he went to check out Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, rocking his favourite pair of future goggles. This was not the man’s first time at the theatre, nor the first time he’d seen a movie there while wearing Glass, but nonetheless, he claims a man showed up next to him an hour in, thrust a badge at him, ripped the Glass of his face, and escorted him out of the theatre where 5 to 10 other officers were lying in wait.
The man put it this way to The Gadgeteer:
I kept telling them that I wasn’t recording anything — my Glass was off, they insisted they saw it on. I told them there would be a light coming out the little screen if Glass was on, and I could show them that, but they insisted that I cannot touch my Glass for the fear “I will erase the evidence against me that was on Glass”. … Then they wanted to know what does Google ask of me in exchange for Glass, how much is Google paying me, who is my boss and why am I recording the movie.
Eventually, after a long time somebody came with a laptop and an USB cable at which point he told me it was my last chance to come clean. …so the FBI guy finally connected my Glass to the computer, downloaded all my personal photos and started going though them one by one (although they are dated and it was obvious there was nothing on my Glass that was from the time period they accused me of recording). Then they went through my phone, and 5 minutes later they concluded I had done nothing wrong.
It’s admittedly maybe not the brightest idea to pretty wildly obvious recording device on your face at a movie theatre, but apparently it had gone off without a hitch before. Also, the man had outfitted this set of Glass with his prescription lenses, so they were kind of necessary.
Even aside from that, the man’s account — if accurate — relays a pretty absurd over-reaction by authorities, and an overboard (if consensual) invasion of this poor guy’s digital privacy. It took roughly three hours before the issue was cleared up. Of course it’s entirely possible that this is just a made-up story by a bored Ohioan, but at least it speaks to kind of problems folks are all but certain to run into if/when Glass takes off a little more, but before the general public knows what it is. You can read his account in great detail over at The Gadgeteer.
Perhaps the biggest irony is that a bootleg movie recorded from a Glass unit’s 5MP, 720p camera wouldn’t look quite as good as a bootleg recorded from any number of smartphones, but you pay a certain tax for having a camera strapped to your head. And unless you’re prepared to explain what a “Google Glass Explorer program” is to an angry man who likes flashing around a badge, maybe it’s best to leave it home on movie night. [The Gadgeteer via Phandroid]