Feds Pulled Someone Out Of A Movie For Wearing Google Glass

Glass

A report first appearing on The Gadgeteer sounded like a hoax: a reader told the site they’d been been approached by the Feds for wearing Google Glass in an Ohio movie theater (and had their property mishandled in the process). But, it looks like at least the basic facts check out: although the FBI didn’t approach someone at the theater, as the person originally thought, the Department of Homeland Security apparently did. (Update: AMC commented. Looks like it was the DHS.)

An FBI spokesman in the bureau’s Cincinnati office confirmed to Popular Science _that there was an incident at the Columbus theater over the weekend and that the Department of Homeland Security was “probably” _involved. (A spokesman for the DHS at first couldn’t confirm the incident; a follow-up email hasn’t been answered at time of writing.)

So, not a hoax. Which doesn’t necessarily mean everything about the reader letter was 100 percent accurate, but if it is, whoo-boy, here we go:

An interview over at phandroid.com makes it sound like a private investigator with the Motion Picture Association of America may have been in the theater, something the FBI spokesman pointed out to me was another possibility.

But should the person have been wearing Google Glass in the theater? Well, that’s up for debate: the lenses were prescription, apparently, but it’s also a pretty blantant recording device that you attach directly to your face. Either way, the reader letter makes the officers come off as clueless about technology, which doesn’t inspire much confidence, either.

We’ll update if we hear back from DHS. You can read the full letter here.