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Google Glass User Accosted in Theater by Federal Agents

Posted byBy Leo | Published on: CommentsComments (2)

google-glassGoogle Glass has raised privacy concerns in many countries. It now appears that it is being monitored as a potential aid to copyright infringement.

A man who wore Google Glass to a movie theater in Ohio was detained and interrogated by officials of the Department of Homeland Security, highlighting concerns that the device may be used by people to illegally record movies at a theater.

The DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that agents of its Homeland Security Investigations interviewed the man, but did not take action after it was found that the recording device, suspected of being used to record a film at the theater, was also a pair of prescription eye glasses in which the recording function had been inactive.

In an account to the Gadgeteer, the unnamed person said he went to AMC theater in Easton Mall in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday to watch a movie with his wife. “Because I don’t want Glass to distract me during the movie, I turn them off (but since my prescription lenses are on the frame, I still wear them),” he told the gadget review website.

AMC Theatres confirmed in a message on Twitter that “it is true that a guest with a potential recording device inside the auditorium was questioned at our AMC Easton 30.” The theater had contacted MPAA investigators and later referred the issue to the DHS, according to the source.

Users of Google Glass have had brushes with the law on other occasions. A court in Southern California dismissed earlier this month a traffic citation issued for wearing Google Glass while driving. The driver was stopped and issued a ticket for speeding. She got the second ticket after the California Highway Patrol officer noticed that she was wearing Google Glass.

The court commissioner dismissed the charge, saying he found no evidence that the device was in operation at the time, according to reports. The woman, Cecilia Abadie, had been cited for breaking a California state law that bars motorists from having video screens for entertainment or business applications in their line of sight while driving.

source: pcworld.com

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