Tuesday, January 21, 2014

AMC movie theater calls “federal agents” to arrest a Google Glass user

AMC movie theater calls “federal agents” to arrest a Google Glass user, article.

From TidBITS's comments:
An Ohio network engineer wore his Google Glass (turned off) in a movie because he has prescription lenses in them. An hour into the movie, he was pulled from his seat by the FBI at the behest of the “Movie Association” (the MPAA, in all likelihood) and questioned for over three hours. Once the agents downloaded and viewed the contents of the Glass (as he had been asking them to do), they agreed he had done nothing wrong, after which the MPAA guy gave him a pat on the head and four free movie passes.
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From the article (which is has the server buckling under the traffic):
What followed was over an hour of the “feds” telling me I am not under arrest, and that this is a “voluntary interview”, but if I choose not to cooperate bad things may happen to me (is it legal for authorities to threaten people like that?). I kept telling them that Glass has a USB port and not only did I allow them, I actually insist they connect to it and see that there was nothing but personal photos with my wife and my dog on it. I also insisted they look at my phone too and clear things out, but they wanted to talk first. They wanted to know who I am, where I live, where I work, how much I’m making, how many computers I have at home, why am I recording the movie, who am I going to give the recording to, why don’t I just give up the guy up the chain, ’cause they are not interested in me. Over and over and over again.
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6 comments:

Ken said...

I'm wondering how they detected it. Movie theatres can check with night vision goggles for things that look like cameras, maybe they just saw that there was something attached to the guys glasses. Also, there is new technology that identifies the lenses in a room, maybe they used that.

The interview vs arrest thing is rather nasty. You can refuse the interview and then maybe they will just go away. Or maybe they will arrest you, handcuff, and then put you in a cell for a while.

Jim Jones said...

I wonder why this is such a huge surprise - what did he expect? Did he really not have any other pair of glasses he could have worn? Not that the response was appropriate, but still - what an idiot!

Anonymous said...

@ Jim- the guy had been in that movie theater several times wearing the glass and the management said it was ok. This particular time he even forgot he was wearing the glass, uses them as his main prescription glasses anyways.

Anonymous said...

A guy who uses Google Glass as his regular spex is a guy who really wants attention - well, he got it. And now he can dine out on it for weeks at least.

Ol' Ben (spectacles and all 8^) said...

I am old enough to remember when the phrase "four eyes" still had some sting to it. Did I, too "really want" such attention? What did I expect? Should I have worn contacts to school? At those prices back then?

I learned not to let peer expectations/pressure/harassment control my life. This is the same game. The stakes have simply been raised by a bunch of high-school jocks hiding behind badges and trying to justify their jobs.

Anonymous said...

This is the same game.

It's not even remotely the same. This asshole could have worn a normal pair of glasses - and in a movie theater definitely should have.

Did I, too "really want" such attention? What did I expect? Should I have worn contacts to school? At those prices back then?

Does he have other options but to wear Google Glasses? Yes, he does. 'Nuff said.