Google Glass wearers are on the rise and a man who recently wore his new tech to a movie theater in Ohio was interrogated for hours to find out if he was illegally recording a film.
A Balkan programmer (who wishes to remain nameless) walked into his movie theater in Columbus, Ohio with his Google Glass on and was detained by the Department of Homeland Security an hour after he sat down to watch the new film Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
The Homeland Security agents had been called by the theater’s manager, who was certain that the man was attempting to illegally record the new film.
It’s quite rare to see someone with them right now, as they’re still in the early stages of development.
Privacy has been discussed given the ability to take photos and video without people being aware, but film piracy may potentially be one of Google’s biggest hurdles for future use according to this latest incident.
The programmer says that he has special prescription lenses that he had custom made for his device and wears them daily. The Balkan immigrant is a network engineer and is currently working towards gaining his citizenship.
So one can imagine how surprised he was to see Homeland Security literally dragging him out of a movie theater, while yanking a $1500 pair of Google Glass off of his face.
The official report says that the 35-year-old man was watching the latest Jack Ryan film, starring Chris Pine and Keira Knightley, when an unknown man sat in the chair next to him and asked him to come outside. Once they reached the movie theater’s lobby, it was revealed that he was about to be interrogated for the next few hours by multiple DHS agents.
Confused at first, the man was unsure what he had done wrong, but then they brought in a laptop to access his Google Glass to see if he was illegally recording the film.
He wasn’t.
He told the Gadgeteer, “About an hour into the movie, a guy comes near my seat, shoves a badge that had some sort of a shield on it, yanks the Google Glass off my face and says ‘follow me outside immediately.'”
He says, “It was quite embarrassing and outside of the theater there were about 5-10 cops.” He was accused of recording the film with his glasses, despite them being off when he was approached by the agents. He was told that he was “not under arrest, and that this is a “voluntary interview,” but if I choose not to cooperate bad things may happen to me.”
In an email from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it’s documented that ICE Homeland Security Investigations “briefly interviewed a man suspected of using an electronic recording device to record a film.”
This may seem a bit odd, but it becomes more clear once we found out the agency is also in charge of combating piracy.
While this isn’t the first time Google Glass has been under scrutiny, it’s certainly the first time we’ve heard of the government having its hand in an ordeal. Laws are currently being addressed, concerning the use of the glasses while driving.
This situation brings up some valid questions about the advancement of technology, where a simple tap on the side of Google Glass could illegally record a movie, but what’s more interesting is how quickly the agents were to assume he was doing something illegal.
Speaking with Techcrunch, he reportedly told the agents dozens of times that he was not recording the film, but they wouldn’t believe him. The interrogation continued.
Explaining why he wore them in the theater he says, “I wore it during the movie because I was an ignorant idiot. I seldom use the camera of any device for taking pictures (I have a Cannon 6D I use for pictures), so I didn’t even think about its existence. As a matter of fact, the camera of Glass is the least interesting feature Glass has.”
Despite this, he says it’s not the first time he’s worn Google Glass during a movie at the same theater.
He went to see Tom Hanks’ Oscar nominated film Saving Mr. Banks a week prior, even stating that an employee had excitedly asked about the glasses, saying, “Wow, man! Is that Google Glass? How is it?” He says he’s always willing to let people test them out when they’re intrigued.
As a network programmer, he’s aware that “some hiccups are to be expected with any new advancement,” but he never expected to be hauled off by a DHS agent while watching a movie.
For all the trouble, including multiple hours of interrogation the theater ended up causing the man, the AMC owned theater offered him four free movie passes.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Google Glass will be widely accepted if it ever does become a common tool. Many people in and outside the tech-world have their doubts, but most exciting technology is often met with a bit of skepticism.