Late last night, we heard news of a man who was said to have been detained at the movies for wearing Google Glass. His telling of the story was suspect, and wrought with things that simply didn’t make sense. Now we’ve learned the story has been confirmed by the movie theater the Glass wearer was at, adding more fuel to the Google Glass fire.
We’ll start with the story itself, which was originally posted on The Gadgeteer. In the post — which is actually an email relayed to the site — the Glass wearer and his wife were said to be detained by mysterious authorities an hour after their movie began. The officials in charge were said to question him about his Glass, and overtly accuse him of taping the movie.
The story itself raised eyebrows, but not for the right reasons. There were too many weird little nuances we couldn’t come to terms with, like the man being asked to follow an agent out of the theater, and the agents not adequately identifying themselves to him. They also interrogated his wife, who didn’t have Glass on. The entire story reads like some blackhat spy novel, leading us to question the details, as well as the story itself.
Business Insider reached out to the theater, who confirmed the man’s story. While they don’t go into the detail he did regarding the event, they do confirm their suspicion he was taping the film:
Movie theft is something we take very seriously, and our theater managers contact the Motion Picture Association of America anytime it’s suspected that someone may be illegally recording content on screen. While we’re huge fans of technology and innovation, wearing a device that has the capability to record video is not appropriate at the movie theatre. At AMC Easton 30 last weekend, a guest was questioned for possible movie theft after he was identified wearing a recording device during a film. The presence of this recording device prompted an investigation by the MPAA, which was on site. The MPAA then contacted Homeland Security, which oversees movie theft. The investigation determined the guest was not recording content.
We must say, we’re impressed with how quickly authorities mobilized to thwart a would-be movie pirater. As tech enthusiasts, we’re sad the theater acted as they did in regard to Glass. There were seemingly several opportunities for them to detain the man prior to entering the theater and ask him to remove the Glass. He claims they were powered off, and that he had prescription lenses for them — making them necessary — but the AMC location could have also asked that he leave. The bottom line is that it didn’t need to go down in such a manner, but it did. Another sad day for Google Glass.
This is amazingly stupid… I am willing that every single customer at the theater over the age of 12 was carrying something capable of recording the movie – a cell phone. I wear prescription glasses and if the price point gets to where I think it makes sense, I could see getting a pair of Google Glasses. If I was wearing them, they were powered off, and an employee came to me and asked me to leave, it would not go well. If they had someone in the theater and saw that the screen was on, which should be possible in a dark theater, that would be one thing. But to accuse a customer with no evidence whatsoever is just ridiculous.
Everyone may have been carrying a cell phone but i would bet that the only recording capable device with the camera pointed towards the screen for the entire duration of the movie would have been the Google glass. Please people, use some damn logic, of course AMC wants to make sure that no one records, the theater actually gets fined if they have a film stolen from their location.
Really stupid homeland security spends out tax dollars on this and not…you know, protecting america
So here in AZ we have thousands of Child Protective Services cases going without being looked into, but one man has the potential to record a movie and DHS is on scene? Really?
You guys are barking up the wrong tree. It’s not the theaters fault. It’s not Homelands Security’s fault. It’s not MPAA or even the poor guy wearing the glasses.
It’s Google’s fault for not putting warning stickers on the box, on a sheet right inside the box, in the manual and attached to the glasses themselves that state do not wear into a theater, doing so may result in criminal investigations and detention by authorities.
Isn’t this how it’s supposed to be done today. I know my lawn mover tells me to not put my hands under the deck. My toaster tells me to not put kitchen utensils in it. And my hairdryer even has a big bold sign on it that tells me to not attempt to dry my hair while I am in the tub. LOL
As for the comments section you guys are right. In what world can a murder occur every 8 seconds but there is a whole slew of authoritative people to stop one person from recording a movie that will look like sh1t.
For those that actually pull down and watch cam recorded movies WOW!! I mean If your pulling down movies that were recorded by a camera then there is something seriously wrong with you. You have the money to buy a PC, pay for internet, and electricity but to go and spend 8 to 12 bucks for ticket is outrageous…… WOW
“wearing a device that has the capability to record video is not appropriate at the movie theatre”. I thought 56% of new phones were smart phones. Most can record a minimum of 720p video. Late last year Disney had a special event that requested movie goers to bring mobile devices for second screen viewing.
And since when did the MPAA gain the authority to detain and question anyone? He could sue them for false imprisonment.