A Google Glass user has now been questioned in a an Ohio theater.
Not one month after a Google Glass wearer was issued a ticket (that was later fought in court) for driving with the device on, Homeland Security has now had to be called to an Ohio theatre for suspected piracy when a moviegoer was noticed wearing the augmented reality glasses.
These mobile devices have caused privacy alarm bells to go off in a number of countries.
Now a man who wore the augmented reality glasses into an Ohio movie theater has been detained and interrogated by Department of Homeland Security officials. This only underscores some of the arguments that people have had against the way that Google Glass can be used illegally. There have been concerns voiced about distracted driving and about the privacy of people who are going about their business in public. Now it looks as though the gadgets also present a risk of assisting in copyright infringement.
The augmented reality glasses are the latest among devices placing theatres at risk of movie recording.
A Motion Picture Association of America spokesperson explained that in this particular case, there was no evidence that the moviegoer was actually using the Google Glass device to record a movie, but action had to be taken to make sure, as “theater-originated piracy” and camcording has been a growing problem across the United States. The association works alongside with theaters throughout the country in the attempt to keep that activity to a minimum.
It was confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement that agents from its Homeland Security Investigations had questioned the man who had been wearing the recording device in while watching the film in the theater not in order to actually record it – which he was not doing – but because the gadget was also a pair of prescription eyeglasses that he needed in order to actually see the screen. The recording function on the glasses was left inactive.
It is likely that as augmented reality glasses become more commonplace, cases like these will start to pop up on an increasing basis.
