Posted on 01/21/2014 10:26:20 AM PST by Red Badger
As if you needed another reason not to wear your dumb Google Glass in public—or ever, actually—an Ohio man claims he was yanked out of a movie theater and interrogated by federal agents, who believed he was illegally filming the movie with his face computer.
The man’s full account is posted on The Gadgeteer, but we’ll summarize it here so you can get the gist of it before you’re engulfed forever in this ghastly winter storm.
Last Saturday, our Glass-wearing protagonist and his wife went to a showing of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit at an AMC in Columbus, Ohio. About an hour into the movie, he says some federal agents yanked the Glass off the man’s face, pulled the pair out of the theater and took them to separate interrogation rooms.
The man, who’d just been trying to enjoy a crappy movie with his lovely wife on a Saturday night, says he was accused of illegally taping the movie and questioned extensively about “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.”
The agents also allegedly displayed this level of ridiculousness:
They wanted to know where I got Glass and how did I came by having it. I told them I applied about 1000 times to get in the explorer program, and eventually I was selected, and I got the Glass from Google. I offered to show them receipt and Google Glass website if they would allow me to access any computer with internet. Of course, that was not an option. 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.
After an hour of intense interrogation, the agents hooked the Glass up to a computer, and saw that all it was storing were personal family photos, he says. They allegedly went through his phone, too, and found nothing.
Then everybody felt really bad, and gave the man and his wife four free movie passes, so they can go see Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit again, twice.
Based on this strange tale, here are some things we should probably establish:
1) AMC needs to learn what Google Glass is, set out a policy as to whether its patrons can wear it or not. Yes, it’s pretty weird and suspicious that this dude was wearing Glass to the movies. Why would anybody do that, if not to film the movie? But having the feds remove a man from his seat mid-movie is pretty shitty, when what he’s doing isn’t expressly prohibited in the first place.
2) Law enforcement officials should make an effort to keep up-to-date on the latest technological advancements, so they don’t unintentionally behave like dodos.
3) Not that we couldn’t guess this before, but Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is probably a move that you should not go see.
UPDATE: The man was wearing Google Glass that had prescription lenses, meaning he needed the Glass to see the movie. He also told Gadgeteer he could have moved a few rows up to see, though. We are awaiting a call back from AMC about their policy on wearing Glass — prescription or not — in theaters.
Such a great episode. Jerry was so offended initially, and then his ego took over when his work became known on the street, as that of a great artist.
Hint: When the police approach you in an investigative/interogative/detention sort of way....hand them your DL and your attorney's business card and say, "Officer, I am willing to help you in your investigation, but have been advised to remain quiet until my attorney arrives".
For legal advice on speaking to police go here
Dear Federal Goon,
Are you going to charge me with something, or can I go now.
These things are LEGAL and you have no proof I was using them illegally.
Now, quit asking stupid questions and leave me alone.
Just because you’ve concocted some intricate fantasy, doesn’t mean I’ve done something wrong.
Man, I’m glad the feds are looking into this. It’s MUCH more important than Benghazi, gun runner and the IRS thingy.
I HAVE seen figures with night vision goggles watching the crowd at movie preview screenings (the type radio stations hand out passes for). I figured they were with the studios, not federal agents.
Also, there is hidden stamping in the film prints themselves (at least dating back to the first Tim Burton Batman) so the studios can ID which print/theater likely spawned the bootleg.
Don’t know though with the internally leaked digital transfers (the ones that say “AWARD SCREENING AUDIENCE ONLY” or some such disclaimer) and film being replaced by digital projection.
Well if it was, Snowden forwarded it to Putin as soon as it came in.
NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!
“As if you needed another reason not to wear your dumb Google Glass in public—or ever, actually...”
Stop reading right there.
Sometimes article writers save you the time of wondering if they are idiots.
About an hour into the movie, he says some federal agents yanked the Glass off the man’s face, pulled the pair out of the theater and took them to separate interrogation rooms.
First of all -- what theater do you know of that has not one, but two "interrogation rooms"? It is a movie theater.
Second of all -- why would the FBI be involved, at least at the start? If the theater thought someone was going to record the movie, they would likely have asked when they first saw the guy with the glasses. If they didn't, they would have called local police.
I mean, what local theater manager would even know how to contact the FBI?
Once the police investigated, I still think it would be odd that the FBI would be involved, but if they were, I would presume it would start with an arrest by the local police, and the FBI would wander in later. Even the fake CSI agents on TV can't get somewhere in an hour.
Lastly, it cannot be illegal to be married to a guy taping a movie. So why would they talk to the wife? What would the point be?
And more lastly -- if they did not understand "google glass", then why would they have thought he was taping the movie? I mean, you'd have to recognize the glasses as google glass to know they had the capability to record the movie. And if you knew that, you wouldn't have to ask what the glasses were or how you could get them.
No, the entire story sounds highly implausible, more like someone trying to run a viral marketing campaign for google glass.
Lucky guy! Had he run into a retired cop he’d be real dead now!
Yep
Well done.
How dare you steal my idea 15 minutes before I posted it!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3114024/posts?page=53#53
:)
“Just shoot the damned picture so I can get out on the street.”
In a few years, these things will be all over the place, and probably indistinguishable from ordinary glasses or sunglasses. They won’t be able to stop anyone from recording the movie, unless they want airport-style security lines in the theater lobby.
Not as stupid as all the folks wearing their bluetooth earpieces around stores - waiting, I suppose, on that critical call that may come while they are in Walmart.
Actually, it would be funny if he had set up his google glass to stream the feed to his local network, and they picked it up and decided he was stealing the movie. But I doubt that.
I will say that I searched for this story in any real newspaper, and all I could find were references to blogs, tech gadget sites, and conspiracy sites.
Here is a typical paragraph, details are different, suggesting a story that is "evolving" like phone tag:
Outside the theater, this poor Google Glass Explorer is surrounded by as many as ten cops, and found himself being questioned for 3 hours. It seems that the Federal Agents were afraid that this guy was illegally filming the movie wearing Google Glass.While I do not live in Ohio, I have watched movies in the Easton Theater in Columbus Ohio, where this happened.
On the other hand, one story had this piece of information, which might suggest why there would have been police to question the man:
Afterward, some information came out that hinted that some pirating had been going on in the past in that particular theater, and with Jack Ryan considered to be a film at risk to be illegally duplicated, there were undercover agents present at that particular screening.
Last thing -- how do we KNOW the guy wasn't recording? That is one of the features of google glass, he could even have been live-streaming.
I went to a concert recently where photography was allowed, but not video. My daughter takes thousands of pictures, she can hold her shutter release and take dozens. And at some point a theater employee came to her to ask if she was shooting video, since she was aiming the camera for so long.
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