Slashdot Mirror
Man Physically Assaulted At McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glasses
RockoW writes "Steve Mann, a long-time researcher of computer vision systems, (i.e. Augmented reality, Digital Eyeglass) had an incident at a McDonald's in Paris, France. He was assaulted by three men during his visit to get food with his family. They had a problem with his digital eye glasses and tried to take them off his head. 'The eyeglass is permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools.' The men also tore up Mann's documentation and a letter from his doctor explaining the device's use. Fortunately, the rough treatment of the device caused it to keep recent images in its memory, instead of quickly overwriting them, so Dr. Mann has pictures of the men who assaulted him."
but just doesn't understand why they won't leave him alone
Arabs or blacks? They are always them in Paris in this kind of incident.
Don't get confused, I am not being racist, and I don't mean all the arabs or blacks do these things, what I mean is that the 95% of people who do that in Paris (in Paris, I don't mean other cities or countries, which I don't know), are arabs or blacks.
When I was there I saw lots and lots of incidents like that.
Subject says it all
the story sounds possibly untrue and slanderous, and the only source that everyone is retweeting is the same one linked here, from a blog on blogspot that has only one post which was recently created.
Sometimes after seeing all the new stuff and experiences you want something familar and comfortable and McDonalds fits that role.
They also are clean, have good bathrooms (exception for the McDonalds in Reims) and are open long hours. They also offer wifi and have seats. And the Partially Gelatinated, Non- Dairy, Gum-Based Beverages can taste rather good on a hot day.
And Facebook refuses to link to the article (or at least Facebook France).
It's important to clarify (as I had to RTFA to realise this), that he claims he was assaulted by 3 employees of McDonalds
This wasn't a random assault by other customers at some shady McDonalds at 3AM, nor was it an assault by a typical skinhead -- from the photos the alleged perpetrators were McDonalds Management.
He's not the first person to claim McDonalds staff in France assault their customers.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
... and kudos for this guy trying to push technology (use) forward.
But bolting the thing to your head?? Seriously?? WTF?
That "recent images" in its memory explanation is bullshit. Just think about the logic in it. If it was built to record, why would it have storage for a few seconds but nothing longer? And why would it have code added to sense that it is broken and stop recording? Most likely the device stored everything just like a video camera. The men were bothered because they rightly thought that he was recording the place. Not that that is reason for anyone to get assaulted though.
As Paris has a mixture of many races, it is advisable for all to know the racial background of the attackers, so that, future visitors to Paris would be well advised to avoid any contact with people of that race.
So he provided this information, sat down, and then, out of the blue:
Subsequently another person within McDonalds physically assaulted me,
This report sounds like bad fiction from someone with a gigantic ego and an armchair law degree:
1) He thinks that "a letter from my doctor" is some sort of do-anything-you-want card in private establishments across the world. Hey, look, I have a letter here which looks like it's signed by a doctor, I can come into your establishment wearing whatever I want!
2) He thinks that the correct thing to do when you are "assaulted" is to write a report for the Internet and to supply random pictures, calling lots of people "perpetrators";
3) He says that these "perpetrators" caused the pictures because his system automatically takes pictures when it is knocked to the floor. Unless you're a lawyer, buddy, don't try to lawyer an argument;
4) He claims that he "contacted the embassy, consulate, police, etc. without much luck". In what way did he lack "luck"? I've got several family members living in France and they've never suffered from lack of "luck" when reporting a physical assault. Maybe he doesn't know how to speak French and refused to accept a translator or find his own. Maybe he presented this weird page instead of stating that he had been attacked, answering the inevitable questions concerning what happened, and leaving the law to do its work.
You're referring to people who wear dork glasses and carry around fake doctor's notes, right?
Man travels to France. Chooses to eat at McDonald's. Seriously. Then COMPLAINS he gets beaten up!
Two quotes:
"... in order to give our children the opportunity to learn true Parisian French..."
"...my wife and children and I went to McDonalds..."
he had it coming :/
"Upon ordering, McDonaldâ(TM)s employees at 140, Avenue Champs Elysees, Paris accosted Mann and tried to tear the glasses out of his head"
It does not sound like a random attack but employee action. Which brings me to think there was a prior history we were not told, for example he telling them it is a camera, them asking him to remove it, and not believing him when he refuses to switch it off or remove it. It does not excuse employee behavior if they assaulted him really, or manhandled him, but OTOH he cannot film random passerby or customer in a premise at will. And I am willing to bet that it was the bone the employee had. OTOH it could be simply dumb people doing dumb things, but I am always very very warry when somebody tell employee attacked them without reason. Random thug attack without reason. Employee not so much. (again i am not saying those reason were not valid, but that we hear only one side here).
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
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visit randi.org
This story is borderline plausible.
I can believe that some Parisians would vigorously defend against photos being take of the interior design/menu.
I can also believe that someone would wear augmented reality glasses. Furthermore, I can understand that (a) McDonalds employee(s) would automatically react strongly to the camera and try to remove them from someone's head.
However, what I don't understand is why the subject of the story just didn't leave McDonalds. Honestly, you're in a city full of excellent, and sometimes inexpensive, cuisine.
Why even go to McDonalds in the first place and why not leave when there's an altercation? Is the 20€ of McDs food worth the hassle?
What the hell. Anyone one would travel the world, choose to give their children an opportunity to learn Parisian french and would then choose to go to a Mc Donalds, in Paris, in France, the home of gastromomy deserves to get smacked upside the head. geez.
carry fake notes should not be assasulted. At most they should be asked to leave the premises or detained while police are called if a crime is suspected.
This is how it starts. The first blows in the war between Augmented Humans and the Naturals.
Keep humanity free from machines!
Be pure, be vigilant, behave!
TFA says its uses a laser and lets the eye function as both a camera and a display. I want to know more.
I love when all the reality nazis come out of the woodwork to tell everyone how they've decided that an incident they weren't present to observe, don't 'have all the details to, and thougth about just for a few seconds, CANNOT POSSIBLY BE REAL.
Reminds me of when people angrily proclaim real photos are photoshopped because OMG PIXELATION, DUH.
He tried to order a Quarter Pounder with cheese and refused to call it a Royale with cheese.
Clearly it was his own fault...
why didnt he went to the police and press charge?
You don't know France, or do you?
In France, the cops dare not to touch the moslems
One look at the way they treat that motherfucking coldblooded moslem bastard who killed little kids and you know that the French - and I mean the WHITE, NON-MOSLEM French, has no ball
Why is facebook blocking this link for being spammy? Seems really weird seeing all the other junk that is postable there.
However, what I don't understand is why the subject of the story just didn't leave McDonalds. Honestly, you're in a city full of excellent, and sometimes inexpensive, cuisine. Why even go to McDonalds in the first place
Well from the summary:
He was assaulted by three men during his visit to get food with his family.
Maybe his kids saw it and they wanted American food and it was too late and he was too tired to resist them? Just because someone has different food tastes than you doesn't make their story implausible. "So I was stopping at a Swedish place to get some lutefisk ..." who fucking cares where it was or what he was eating? Also, sometimes chain restaurants are much better in foreign countries. Try the Pizza Hut on Grand Cayman sometime, they are crazy amazing (I think because the food has to all be grown locally).
and why not leave when there's an altercation? Is the 20€ of McDs food worth the hassle?
I know, it's weird, it's almost like he thought he had a right to be there or something. Crazy fucking Canadians and their "rights."
"Hey dad how come you gave those men money and then they showed some muscle so we left without eating? Now I'm hungry and you kinda look like a pussy."
Undoubtedly brilliant but damn what a weirdo !! The whole tone of the blog is just weird ...
The strangest thing out of the whole story (to me at least) was that he is married and has kids !!!
He was assaulted by three men during his visit to get food with his family
Do they sell food nowadays at McDonald's?
You know how the call a beating in French?
A royal with cheese...
they just don't prosecute thieves in France. No mention of police being called, arriving, having leads, how do they do things in the land of baguettes and bad attitudes?
I have read somewhere that McDonald's is NOT a corporate entity. It is instead a trade mark and business model that can be licensed by anybody willing to become local McDonald's. If so, it's futile to look for McDonald's representative a.s.o. - they have no relation with this specific McDonald's except collecting the license fees. The local police is the only place to ask for help.
He is the guy who INVENTED wearable computing and all the technology behind Project Glass.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Hey AC ... you need to know what battle is worth fighting and this isn't one of them. Asserting your right to dine somewhere, when you have pretty damn unique glasses that look like a camera to most people (especially McDonalds employeed, which aren't so tech savvy) is "losing the forest for the trees."
I also have a very hard time believing that Pizza Hut on Grand Cayman is better than a real Pizzeria using the same locally grown stuff, but whatever makes you justify the fast-food experience is OK with me (not really)
My vision is augmented.
The guy has a doctor's letter for his computer glasses? How does that work, exactly? Is it because he's a "cyborg" and removing his glasses would "kill" him? Does it monitor his heart rate so he'll get an audible alarm if his heart stops beating or something lame like that? Or did he just get one of his physician friends to write him a note so that he wouldn't have to take off his attention-getting get-up and become a mere human like the rest of us?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
If someone physically is present in Paris and still goes to McDonalds to get his meal, then he deservers to be assaulted :)
He should have known better than to expect anything less from the French.
It's no wonder the Nazis made an example of them.
"losing the forest for the trees."
What the hell are you talking about?
Asserting your right to dine somewhere, when you have pretty damn unique glasses that look like a camera to most people
Yeah? 'Pretty damn unique glasses' is a valid reason to discriminate at a public restaurant? Tell me, where did McDonald's post the nonuniqueness requirement for glasses on that building's entrance?
You know he develops this stuff for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, do you hate it when those people in wheelchairs get all high and mighty and demand that dining establishments install ramps?
Actually, it's not legal to videotape/shoot photos inside of a McDonalds and the employees overreacted to this ... that's my point ... and you missed it ... completely.
And remember, one thing about the French is that they eat an awful lot of French food.. all the time.
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There is definitely a huge race problem in France, largely perpetuated by the minorities themselves, but this was McDonalds employees assaulting him. They should all do jail time and McDonalds should be forced to pay him a large settlement.
In principle, the French speak with people they don't know on the street because the French are a moderately sociable people. Anglophones are actually pathologically anti-social.
There is however an Arabic street culture that goes way beyond simply being sociable and quickly become harassment, usually harassment of women. France has this problem worse than most European countries because they took Arabic immigrants in large groups and confined them in ghettos.
You'll witness a tiny amount of harassment in Turkey or maybe Greece, namely the cabs obnoxiously honk at you, scary but no big deal. In Morocco, I've been followed for hours by a scary guy asking to be our guid.
In France, these Arab guys mostly just harass women on the street. You'll never even notice them if you're male and don't leave a bar with a woman. I've occasionally witnessed French Arabs trying to pick fights with non-Arab men, but overall they're probably less violent that Brits or Americans from Boston. Bostonians and Brits are by far the most violent men I've seen anyplace.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
As far as I can tell, I think they thought he would film them doing crooked things, like spit in the food, or sell fried chicken heads, or whatever. So they went braindead apeshit.
Of course this is funny, since nobody suspected them to do anything bad in the first place, but NOW they will be under *very* close scrutiny. And considering their behavior, they probably have some very dirty little secret. Otherwise they wouldn't have acted that insane.
This will become funny. And they will definitely lose their jobs.
Absolutely! All restaurants are private premises, and the owners/operators *always* reserve the right to ask *any* customer to leave for a variety of reasons. Nobody has a *right* to be served in any restaurant, likely anywhere in the world I'd say.
Probably, it would be enough if the employees felt that he was causing a disturbance to the other customers, or was about to do so.
This "It might be fake" is a derail people. Just mod it down.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
a little offtopic, but think about it.. you are wearing google glasses, but you don't have my permission to publish my image to the net. now what?
Here's another link, with a picture of the perps. The comments suggest "The French hate paparazzi" as well. http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/16/augmented-reality-explorer-steve-mann-assaulted-at-parisian-mcdonalds/
Whoa, whoa, wait, it's become a crime to look like a dork and is grounds to be beat up at leisure by anyone who wants to? So all the schoolyard bullies we met during our time were right?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Is this the same Steve Mann who has an implanted camera filming you non-stop but gets really upset if you take even a single picture of him?
The fact that he blanked out their faces shows photography is a different matter legally than in the U.S. Hard to believe they are allowed to rip something off your head or even out of your hands though.
So, you have to absolutely conform to YOUR assumptions of what is normal or else you deserve to be assaulted?
Go and die and make the world a better place. What an elitist pig, deserve to be beaten up for daring to go to McDonalds. Well you deserve a whipping for a number in your nickname, couldn't think up an original one?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Would this be true in Greensboro, North Carolina? No idea what the French law is, but "anywhere in the world" includes lots of places.
As far as I can tell, I think they thought he would film them doing crooked things, like spit in the food, or sell fried chicken heads, or whatever. So they went braindead apeshit.
Of course this is funny, since nobody suspected them to do anything bad in the first place, but NOW they will be under *very* close scrutiny. And considering their behavior, they probably have some very dirty little secret. Otherwise they wouldn't have acted that insane.
I think they can say goodbye to their jobs, and probably a couple of friends too.
From their website:
"Nous avons été informés, ce jour, d’une réclamation concernant un consommateur canadien qui déclare avoir été l’objet d’une altercation avec des personnels McDonald’s dans un de nos restaurants parisiens, le soir du 1er juillet.
Comme toute réclamation de consommateurs, celle-ci fait l’objet d’une enquête interne approfondie pour faire toute la lumière sur les faits. Bien sûr, si les faits tendaient à impliquer un ou plusieurs membres du personnel de l’établissement, nous prendrons les mesures adaptées.
Pour l’heure, nous en appelons à la patience afin de permettre la collecte d’informations sur un événement qui se serait produit il y a plus de deux semaines."
Short English version: We've heard of a complaint. We're investigating. Give us time.
http://www.mcdonalds.fr/
I can see where this guy went wrong.
He clearly tried co-operate, was reasonable and maintained his composure.
All he needed to do was raise his voice and stand up for himself and they would have immediately surrendered.
Assault is never good, but I can imagine the reaction, it will become a bigger problem, as people wearing 'camera's like and recording is an invasion of privacy.
It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here.
Wait and see they'll be endless screeds and hate speech about 'people using those damn things everywhere'. They'll be new laws preventing people from wearing them while driving. People getting banned from restaurants and movie theaters and endless endless articles about how Mother Government must crush them all under her boot heel forever.
Take a look at the perpetrator #1. He is not some run of the mill McD dude, he is Gustavo Fring! No wonder our nerd glasses dude got little bit roughed there.
I tried to post a link to the article on Facebook, but it refused, claiming it had been flagged as abusive, Wtf!
Since he got assault, he needed pepper (spray) as well.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
All the comments seem to be focusing on whether this is even real. Am I the only one that expected this? When I read the first slashdot article talking about google glasses, that was my reaction. How could I circumvent all these wienies with cameras on their heads?! I see these types of troubles increasing as more people take these things out in public. I swear to never interact with anyone wearing those. If I have customers that walk into my store wearing those, they will be asked to leave immediately or the police will be called!
" They basically confined their Arabic minorities in ghettos for a generation, which prevented those minorities from acquiring French culture"
Bull shit.
They confine THEMSELVES! It is exactly the same here in Germany. The Muslim popular stays in their own areas. They choose not to integrate. The parents forbid their children from pursuing relations with non Muslims.
You cannot blame the local population when immigrants refuse to integrate. We all know how understand Americans are about this sort of thing. They love it when Mexicans speak spanish to them. They would never say something like, "learn English you Mexican".
Skorpio: "Homer, which country do you hate more: France or Italy?"
Homer: "France."
Skorpio: "Heh. No one ever says Italy."
In France private security have basically no rights to arrest someone as long as they're not doing something like assaulting someone (and in those cases they have the same rights and in fact obligation as all the citizens to intervene, and I say obligation because it's "Non assistance à personne en danger" not helping someone who's in danger and you can be condemned for it by law.). The only right they have is to call the police.
No matter what you may believe about our country there is NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that justifies an act of violence here just because someone happened to illegally take pictures somewhere and the culprit of the assault will face bigger charges than someone who illegally took pictures if you sue.
Private security guards in French malls or supermarkets don't even have the right to search your bags if they suspect an act of thievery. They can only try to stall you and ask the police to come and search the bags for them.
The truth is, most people employed in the private security sector are uneducated immigrants, or first generation born in France who are ignorant of French law and really quick to lose their temper. In the south of France it's not a stretch to say that 70% of the guards are black people, 20% north african and 10% actually French both in blood and culture. In the case of that McDonald in Paris they were pretty obviously North African, even the fucking manager is a North African called Khader.
In the article, he posts images from what seems to be very far back in his narrative of events. He shows the 'Possible Witnesses' as he described them well before his assault. If his visual system only stored images after or as it was damaged, I could accept images of the attackers themselves.
This whole story seems to be missing something.
They're touchy about that.
At a minimum, McDonald's has the right to withdraw the franchise license to a franchisee that damages the value of the franchise. Force them to exercise it. If you are outraged by this story, write (in paper mail) to McDonald's world headquarters, explaining that you will cease to dine at a McDonald's in any country because you now fear for the safety of yourself and your children, and you will not return until they investigate this story thoroughly, and take steps to ensure that legitimate customers are not assaulted by restaurant staff anywhere in the world. Don't write to customer support or PR, that's likely to get read by peons and get summarily ignored. Ditto for your local franchisee, who has about as much influence on McD's global operations as cockroaches do to your house. Try writing the top management directly, or the board of directors.
It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here.
Only if you've augmented your vision
the writing style sniffs like Mr. Mann is a little futher along the autistic spectrum than a lot on /. The whole thing about showing McD's employees the letter is just wierd. McD's employees can't really care ... about *anything*.
There are a bunch of this story that don't make sense, but the main one is that if he was accosted, he'd go to the police, if not the management at McD's. Not a blog.
So I'm left with the thought that he's spinning what he created years ago in light of what google is coming out with - google who's getting the press google - as an attempt to set out what he's created well before google.
"In France, I would expect Algerians and Moroccans before I'd guess skinheads."
Evidence please, references? or just a racist rant?
(e.g. crime statistics for France for assault. Do French statistics include haircut type?)
Up or down, though, is a different matter. Because as far as I'm aware the French who don't baiser are either underage or incapable. The first sentence might be seen as insightful, but the second is a gross libel on most French people over 90.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
assaulted by 3 employees of McDonalds
This story would be definitely more interesting if the man assaulted 3 McDonald's employees with his Digital Eye Glasses.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
You know, if you want to go to Paris and eat at McDonalds, you can do that in Paris, Texas: http://www.yellowpages.com/paris-tx/mip/mcdonalds-942303. Supposedly, you won't get assaulted by the local employees there. There was a movie (Snatch?) that succintly summed it up: Never go to Europe. :)
Absolutely! All restaurants are private premises, and the owners/operators *always* reserve the right to ask *any* customer to leave for a variety of reasons. Nobody has a *right* to be served in any restaurant, likely anywhere in the world I'd say.
Probably, it would be enough if the employees felt that he was causing a disturbance to the other customers, or was about to do so.
Yup, but even if you are on private property they have to ask you politely to leave first. They are not allowed to lay a finger on you unless you refuse to do so or ignore them. Even then they are only allowed to use reasonable force to remove you from the premises, and that does not involve trying to take your property from you, especially if it happens to be attached to your head.
I dont read
what a shame
... I guess he didn't see it coming ...
Is his right eye damaged somehow? If not, then how is the doctor's note supposed to explain his use of the device?
..... I do not need to be tracked by any person with digital eye glasses.
How do I know what they record and what they do with it..... I say digital head mount glasses should be banned in general since it is an intrusion on privacy for all those who walk on the street!
I say... all people that wear Google glasses or any other like device should be sentenced to death for ignorance and being an idiot!
work together? Maybe when the machine men win the war and take over Earth, that might happen... =)
No, you are blaming the victim. All the victim did was to visit the place, show the note from his doctor, and order food when they seemed to accept it. When the thugs came to assault him he once again showed his doctor's note, and then they proceeded to viciously attack him.
Clever signature text goes here.
Once, just once in my life, I ended up in a McDonalds in Frankfurt after my companion had rejected every possible variety of German, Turkish and Greek restaurant and cafe. It was, quite simply, a "starve in the gutter before I do that again" episode. I fail to understand how an educated man, a professor no less, could conceivably end up in an American fast food joint in a city where sticking a pin in the map will possibly still give you too many choices. It's like visiting Niagara Falls and spending the entire time watching the toilet flush.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
"Hi, I'm a dude wearing several thousand dollars' worth of electronics on my body, see, everyone, see?"
I don't know the circumstances of this assault, but I know that in the last several weeks I've heard about several construction sites broken into and robbed of as little as a couple hundred dollars' worth of copper. This morning was $20,000 in damage to the site, for $2000 in copper (new light rail construction vandalized).
Personally, I think it would be very...trusting... to advertise to the public at-large that you have valuable electronics in your pockets. Particularly if you are distracted looking at online porn while you're standing there.
-Styopa
It was his own mistake to take the Vision Enhancement as his first augmentation. Should have chosen Microfibral Muscle or at least Speed Enhancement first.
How is it illegal? WTF?
2. Leave your Mom's basement and venture out into the world and interact with actual human beings. I'm sure writing a letter would make all the difference. *rollseyes*
It was probably a follower of he Religion of Peace who didn't want his slaves...I mean wives...being photographed.
Why don't you start a restaurant and put a sign outside it saying "No dogs, no blacks, no irish" and see how that's received.
How much do you want to bet they were ragheads. They ought to send those muslims and burqa wearing women and their ideas of global islamic conquest back to their own countries where they belong.
Dude, we're nowhere near nanomods yet. He should've gone with CASIE or perhaps a skullgun. If he could kil just by thought, it would be beter.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Just as Jesus said "you will always have the poor with you" so we will always have the French. Judging by the photos on the victim's web site, the suspected perps look like they could be undercover govt thugs in role as mcd employees. It's hard to imagine low-level mcd employees becoming violent over perceived video recording. And those men don't look like they are merely mcd employees. In the same way as govt thugs in Washington DC or New York City will assault you for video recording public scenes (with a "who do you think you are" attitude), perhaps this is an example of French govt thugs doing the same thing.
A) If you are in public, he doesn't need your permission.
B) He was not publishing images to the net.
C) Now what? Move along, nothing to see here.
While I can't say it's wrong to try to show someone assaulting you a letter from your doctor, it's a desperate move that may be the only choice available, but which you should expect probably won't work. Writing about it as if he expected it to work and that this criminal is especially bad for refusing to read it shows a lack of common sense. And a lack of common sense is likely to increase your chances of getting assaulted in the first place, if only because you don't avoid bad neighborhoods or take other common precautions.
Okay the Digital Eye part is kind of creepy, but he should not have been assaulted just because of it. But come to think of it, if he was using it to scan under women's clothes, or look weird at other people, I might say he does deserve a beating even though he may be physically impaired. Thanks for the post!
http://www.mitprof.com
I'm not condoning physical violence, but I think wearable recording devices _should_ be resisted by the general public. I would have sided with the victim except for the fact that he has presented these (crystal clear) images that he saved onto the device. His defense is that the device is for improved vision, yet improved vision does not require images to be retained. Retaining images is the part I am against. Of course, with a wearable device like that nobody can tell whether you're "saving for later" or not, so an outright ban isn't out of the question.
Bunch of surrender monkeys.
Also, he should have his kids enrolled in Chinese immersion. French is a dying language soon to follow Latin to the linguistic waste bin.
In June of 2012, my wife, children, and I traveled to Paris, France, for our summer vacation, in order to give our children the opportunity to learn true Parisian French (we have them enrolled in French immersion at school).
I'm so sure the glasses were the only reason the altercation started. I'm sure it has nothing to do with being a snobby douchebag who thinks he's better than everyone else. If you don't believe me, he signed the post as "Dr. Steve Mann, PhD (MIT '97), PEng (Ontario)" Anyway, reading his account of it makes me want to hit him due to his unbearable writing style and attitude and I'm not even staring into his robo-glasses, getting photos randomly taken of me.
By the way, it was later found that the "two Ranch Wraps, one burger, and one mango McFlurry" were more detrimental to his health than the assault. Someone with such AMAZING education and intelligence should know better than to eat at McDonalds. I'm just a lowely little IT Manager and I haven't eaten there in about 8 years.
Subsequently another person within McDonalds physically assaulted me, while I was in McDonand's, eating my McDonand's Ranch Wrap that I had just purchased at this McDonald's
I think he and/or his roboglasses just failed a Turing test lol.
The things is, it was indeed a historical issue : those gettho as you call them were not really arab gettho. They were place (mostly bar buildings) with very low rent (HLM=habitation à loyer modéré=Housing with limited rent). Those became inhabited with a high proportion of north african and central african people, but there is a lot (and initally a majority) of non-african people in them. But due to the fact that most immigrant at least initally had low pay job, there was a concentration which happened. So it was NOT that arabic minority were confined intentionally, it just happened that they went to the lowest rent. Heck, my mother told me when those HLM were started , she went in with my father, arab was a minorities. When they moved onn 20 years later Arabic/central african were the majority in the particular building. But then again which gettho is initially intended ? probably not many.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Is there a special name for a Parisian red neck? The behavior fits. In other words "If you don't understand it, kill it.
Be pure, be vigilant, behave!
Actually, if the naturals want to win, shouldn't they misbehaving... a lot.. and winning by force of numbers
Does anyone else find it a bit too convenient that the camera the guy is wearing only kept the images of all perps (even the attempt to hide the name tag), witnesses, etc., exclusively "as a result of Perpetrator 1's actions"? I call BS.
The events he describes took place over at least 5 minutes and all the images were stored only because when "the computer is damaged, e.g. by falling and hitting the ground (or by a physical assault), buffered pictures for processing remain in its memory"? Complete and utter bullshit.
I bet there is more story than what he is willing to say (e.g. there was probably at least a warning and a request to leave the premises before he was attacked).
Their commercials are funnier too.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
nuke the bastard frogs and the legitimate ones too nuke the dirty frogs and the clean ones too
The heading says it all.
Whilst I don't doubt for a moment that Parisian fast food operatives can be rude and physically pushy, it does appear from TFA that he had communication issues and a tendency to be rather arrogant (the whole article starts with "DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I'M AN ACKNOWLEDGED GENIUS!" and works its way from there).
McDonalds in France (and in the UK and many other countries) do not allow still cameras, video cameras or other recording equipment to be operated inside their restaurants without explicit permission from the managers.
This is clearly labelled on all the doors as you go in, not just in words, but a picture of a camera crossed out.
If you don't agree, go elsewhere, problem avoided.
What seems to have happened is that an attention-seeking American ignored these notices. He was then asked to put away the recording equipment, and he didn't comply. At that point he was probably asked to leave, but from TFA I'm not convinced he knew enough French to realise what was being asked of him. A scuffle then broke out.
It's important to note that on private premises, the staff can ask you to leave for any reason (it's their shop, not yours) and if you refuse, they can legally use reasonable force. Same anywhere in Europe. In larger cities where they have lots of troublemakers they will even employ professional bouncers (doormen, security guards) to enforce this, but anyone acting with the owner's consent can chuck you out, physically if need be. My first wife was even directly instructed by the police to physically manhandle unruly customers out of her amusement arcade rather than calling 999 (911/112), which seeing as she was a 6'2" amazonian and her customers were weedy videogaming teenagers was rather one-sided, and probably not the Xena experience they had fantasised about. Point is, shop staff can ask you to leave, they don't have to give you a reason, and if you don't comply, they can physically chuck you out perfectly legally.
Now there's clearly a question about whether the amount of force used was reasonable, but that question only arose because he ignored or refused to comply with what is a very, very reasonable request: People in restaurants generally don't want to be filmed. If he's too ignorant or arrogant to deal with that, then scuffles such as the one he described are entirely predictable.
As if to reinforce people's view of him as arrogant and out-of-touch, he appears to have looked up American contact information on WHOIS rather than using the phone number on a French-language website; seemingly he thinking a bunch of IT infrastructure engineers 8,000 miles away are going to be able to do anything about bouncers in a fast food restaurant in a foreign country.
In short, the moral of the tale is: If you're in a foreign country and you're pissing people off, consider the possibility that the foreign country has different social norms than what you're used to, and adapt appropriately. If you're not prepared to accept that, rip up your passport and stay at home.
I mean, heck, I'm not a fan of Catholicism, but I'm not rude or arrogant enough to expect to be able to visit French cathedrals wearing beach shorts without getting an old lady jabbing a sharp, painful and accusing finger into my hide, and even if I did, I'd take it as an indication that *I* was the one doing something wrong.
People are trying to relax and eat, put your recording equipment away dude!
(And I don't for a moment buy the argument that the digital glasses aren't recording equipment. Exhibit A, the still photos on the chap's web page.)
The bloke was being a dick.
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
... to eliminate all inferior beings who need prosthetic devices. Next up, an assault on those who use crutches. We'll clean up that genome, yet. And as for those foreign-born cripples ...
What is this, high school?
Here is the contact info from the McDonald's website for the French office. Perhaps they should hear about the bad press they are receiving from this incident.
McDonald's France S.A.
1 Rue Gustave Eiffel
78045 Guayancourt Cedex
France
Phone* : 33-130-48-6000
Fax* : 33-130-48-6300
* U.S. customers, dial 011 + before an international number, except in Canada, dial 1 + number.
I think there is something missing in this story. Personally, if I was wearing something that does not offend the people and I was asked by some McDonalds employee (not using any adjectives here :) ) to explain what I am wearing - I would just leave the place immediately. There are so many restaurants in Paris (!!!). Side note: going to McDonalds in Paris is very American ;)
Unless the question was out of curiosity - otherwise it is not your business. If an employee is asking this question - he/she does not respect me as your customer. And I am not eating at the place where I am not shown at least minimum level of respect. Period.
I agree with the other person who replied to you: it must be highly variable. I speak passable French and Parisians have always been jerks to me. On the other hand people elsewhere in France are normal. If anyone else out there has had the same experience with Paris we have and needs a rec for a place where people are friendly, I vote for Turkey. Kindest. People. On. Earth.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
That branch is well know for peddling. Their employees make next to nothing and so like to augment their income... ...just like in casino's and certain street corners photography is not welcome.
>So, there you are in a new country with a different culture
Are you talking about the American tourist with the science-project band-aid spectacles who can only afford to eat in fast food restaurants whilst visiting the greatest gastronomic city on Earth, or the third-generation Parisian restaurant owner with the native passport?
Knowing what the cost of living in Paris is, versus the squalid living conditions of many minor American academics and generally hilarious wages in the USA (from which you then have to subtract heath insurance and vacation days... LOL), I know which one I'd be looking down on. It's half a million Euros minimum just to start a McDonalds franchise in one location in Europe; in Paris, a shedload more. That chap with the tie in the photos, he's probably the franchise owner, he's probably a millionaire.
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
I don't understand why he didn't take this to the police.
It was assault on him, he has pictures, witnesses. Looks bad on France when tourist are getting attack.
But I don't know, I'm not stupid enough to go to France.
Unless of course, the people that attacked him were cops, and they just react like American cops when being filmed.
Be seeing you...
had an incident at a McDonald's in Paris, France.
He was assaulted by three men during his visit to get food with his family.
Huge hole in the story.
You can't get food in McDonald's :)
Something is not right with this story. It's a simple matter to reach the customer service department at McDonalds as well as other departments like public relations and more. It simply does not pass the sniff test.
Either the story isn't right or he isn't. Either way there's much more to this than we're being made privy to.
"Fortunately, the rough treatment of the device caused it to keep recent images in its memory, instead of quickly overwriting them, so Dr. Mann has pictures of the men who assaulted him"
You Naturals are an abomination against progress, fit only for extinction.
May the war be soon, that your worthless kind may be quickly wiped from the face of the Earth.
Sorry to say, but having visited France on numerous occasions and having many friends from France, I'd have to say that if you go to France looking like you did in your photo's in the OP, then you are asking for trouble.
Get nearly everyone to wear them and connect them live to the net. Then when anyone does anything "wrong", it will be captured by everyone around them and immediately routed to the authorities.
There are pictures in the original article to back his story.
http://eyetap.blogspot.com/2012/07/physical-assault-by-mcdonalds-for.html
The absence of any response from McDonalds should be another indicator of the truth of his claims.
If you really think that Ronald McDonald is the poster boy for McDonalds corporate behavior, watch McLibel: http://www.spannerfilms.net/films/mclibel
Much of Europe went ballistic over Google's Street View. They are suing Google over privacy invasion and made a big thing of it the press. Perhaps any strange camera devices triggers angers people now.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Funny how the last McDonalds story led to many posts about "dumb Americans" and "typical American behavior". But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
If you want to evict a customer, you say "sir, we will not serve you. Now leave."
You do not assault him.
Nerd persecution must end!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm guessing you're not from the U.S. (or France, apparently), but people are pretty ruthless here if you're "different." Homosexuals are regularly committing suicide for being tormented. We also have 4chan.
My mother works at a nursing home where some of the "adult" staff make fun of and harass the mentally challenge volunteers. My mother tells them to basically fuck off and grow up, and they just laugh at her because they think it's funny.
I'm not sure why we're so insecure. We pretty much do whatever the fuck we want.
Sooo FaceBook is censoring the original link... Wonder if they are in bed with McDonalds? Good thing articles like this are shareable. thanks SlashDot...
SlashDot your next article should be on why is FB censoring this story....Just Sayin...
Actually, I wanted to see for myself, so I just tried to call the number listed on the U.S. website:
1-800-244-6227
Try it. It's exactly as he described. Loud and garbled.
I suspect this fellow is telling the truth about everything. It takes little imagination to picture a couple of low-level management idiots in some franchise acting like bullies.
The fact that the victim is a bit nerdy looking, as somebody else complained, is no bloody excuse whatsofuckingever.
This is how it starts. The first blows in the war between Augmented Humans and the Naturals
Puny human, BWAHAHAHAHA! You will be assimilated. You will not resist, you will beg to become a cyborg like us. Just wait until you need a pacemaker or a cochlear implant or an artificial hip or other body part.
Free Martian Whores!
Doesn't Steve Mann record audio too? The way his page explains it, it feels like strange mute men assaulted him and tried to forcibly remove his glasses. Surely those men weren't mute. They must have said something. Of course, they were speaking French, but Mann's daughter understands French. It would be nice to get her point of view, so we could get a better grasp on what happened. There's something missing here. It's like a silent movie.
What the fuck is wrong with all of you people? Both those shocked that he went to McDonald and those who attempt to justify this sound really out of touch and weird!
Yes, maybe his kids wanted McDonald's. Lots of kids love the taste. I did, my siblings did, many of my friends did...
Or maybe they were so hungry they did not want to wait 45 minutes for their food in a real restaurant, so they opted for FAST food.
Or maybe they were tired of having been eating so much French food and wanted something North American that day.
Or perhaps they wanted to see if it tasted different in Europe (take it from I, who has eaten at McDonald's around the world, the food does vary from country to country!)
But you know what? WHO FUCKING CARES? Why is that even important to anyone?
And what the fuck is that about "His kids had seen the McDonald and it was too late, he couldn't resist them...". WHAT??? He can't, I don't know, just be a nice father and sometimes eat where the kids want to make them happy? My father took me to McDonald's a few times, even on holiday, not because he was too tired to say no but simply because it made him happy to make me happy. Sorry if your parents didn't do that for you, but can you please stop making it sound like it's not normal?
Most of all: why the fuck should we care why he ate there? It's just a stupid meal, maybe you people don't go on vacation but generally when you do, you don't have to eat only at restaurants where they serve local specialties and charge you $100. There's no rule or commandment from god or whatever!
You guys sound like him eating at McDonald's is key evidence of some secret conspiracy theory. Hey maybe we should check where Oswald ate before he shot Kennedy, it might give us all the answers we've been looking for this whole time!
Seriously guys, I'm actually wondering if for your own good I should make a few phone calls and have the nearest mental hospital send the men in white to pick you up and give you the pills you seem to need...
Having to justify the choice of eating at McDonald's because it's suspicious... My fucking god what have we come to??
'The eyeglass is permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools.'
What the... I mean how does that work? Has it been implanted into his skull bone? I hope he isn't a Borg drone.
I completely agree with you.
In fact I think McDonald's should even go further and kick out people in electric wheelchairs, because they look like cars and cars aren't allowed inside McDonald's.
And ban assistance dogs (like some blind people have), because they look like real dogs and real dogs are not allowed.
I second that.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
I didn't ask for this!
Violently assaulting someone is the French equivalent of the waiter coming over and asking 'is everything alright with your meal?'. It very slightly more irritating too.
I don't know the laws in France, but I doubt that a Canadian citizen is subject to them, if not in France.
He should unmask the people on his blog who he's labeled Perpetrators 1-3. Why would you give them the courtesy of anonymity?
Also, seeing as McDonalds originated in the US, I'd be filing any complaints with corporate HQ in Oak Brook, IL. I'm pretty sure corporate HQ can exert pressure on affiliates/franchisees outside the US.
And here comes another ignoramus who thinks they know everything about private businesses.
In France, you can't kick out people for just any reason, there's indeed something in the law about "refus de servir" (refusal to serve) and that thing says that refus de servir is illegal except under a few specific conditions. If your private business is open to the public (i.e. "anyone can walk in and do business UNTIL we say "no") then your private business is a public place and has to obey a few laws (this is the case of stores and most restaurants). One of these laws states that you can not discriminately refuse service to anyone. You need a pretty good reason to kick somebody out (e.g. they assaulted somebody or are causing some serious trouble...).
Second, even if you sort at the door who gets in and who doesn't (like night clubs do for example), you can't refuse service based on things like race, sex, religion and disability (unless this disability makes the service you provide dangerous, for example think of roller-coasters and pregnant women).
So here are the facts of this case:
1) McDonald is considered a public place, therefore they need a REALLY good reason to kick him out.
2) He did not provide such a reason to McDonald's.
3) On top of that, he was kicked out because of a disability he has, which makes the whole thing worse. And before you try to be a smart ass and say he was kicked out because of his medical device and not his disability per se, let me tell you that in France the law does not get into that subtlety.
Oh and any French business owner is supposed to know all of that, so the McDonald where this happened has no excuse.
Actually, it's not legal to videotape/shoot photos inside of a McDonalds and the employees overreacted to this ... that's my point ... and you missed it ... completely.
I don't know about the law in France, but in the United States it is perfectly legal to photograph in any public place. That said, most citizens and law enforcement are ignorant of this fact, and people are routinely hassled for photography. Sometimes their photos are forcibly erased (which actually _is_ against the law). Places might have a "no photography" policy, and if they tell you to leave and you don't, then you are trespassing, but that is usually their only remedy under the law.
Besides, under normal circumstances this device does not save any information, and is not "videotaping" or "shooting photos". It's a bit like assaulting someone at a concert for wearing a hearing aid.
Nursing home orderlys are barely above mentally challenged themselves. It is a shit job that nobody wants.
For real bullying (bullying doesn't cover it) look at what the high functioning 'mentally challenged' do to the low functioning. An associate that used to be a psych nurse referred to them as the 'mongoloid mafia'. Rape is routine on these wards.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
And I take it these men had their wangers out too, right?
Otherwise your analogy is incorrect.
Though Calais and the surrounding areas are bad if you have an English accent. For fairly decent reasons, really.
******I'd like to explain what this is. It's an event named after a mountain in Greece that nobody is allowed to mention unless they are a ******* sponsor, on pain of a fine up to £20 000. It is happening in a city which, apparently, you are not supposed to mention in your advertising. And one of its principal sponsors is McDonalds.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
He might scare somebody who feeling they were defending themselves pull out their gun and shoot themselves a borg.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
The first battle between augmented and not?
Bzzzzt! Sorry, thanks for playing.
The first battle between an augmented human and not was when someone picked up a branch to augment the human's clownish teeth and nails. I believe 2001 has one artist's conceptualization.
Kzinti: What are those flat teeth for?
Human: Chewing bugs and nuts and leaves.
Kzinti: What are those claws for? If you can call them that.
Human: They are scoops for digging up bugs to eat.
Kzinti: You suck!
Human: Feeling jumpy, froggy? Jump. We are good at augmentation.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Is Adam Jensen
You get off the overnight from the states, your hotel won't let you check in yet, you're hungry, it's 10:00 a.m. and your body isn't sure if its time for breakfast lunch or dinner. Solution - McDonalds.
"when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence"
They were not Europeans; they were French. Even worse they were from Paris!
Refusing service because of a MEDICAL device, would be grounds for a serious ADA lawsuit in the U.S.
Good-bye
Seriously.
Perhaps one day people will stop to go to Mac Donald or any industrial food organisation,
not only you eat shitty food but get processed too.
It will never happen to you in a turkish kebab, a local coucous, or just a regular french bistrot.
Local food to local people.
[1] "Man Physically Assaulted At McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glasses"
[2] "Mann Physically Assaulted At McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glasses"
Their they're doing there hair.
Is that what they are telling you over there? Smart.
At least Austria's so peaceful it's outright boring...
While I respect Steve's research, there are a number of things about this alleged "assault" that don't seem right.
1) First off, it's debatable whether someone trying to snatch your glasses is really a physical attack. Attempted theft sure, but they weren't trying to physically injure him or knock his teeth out. Crying wolf, exaggerating, and misconstruing attempted petty theft as physical assault are not good ways to promote your cause. When the headline reads something like "Researcher physically assaulted at McDonald's" what comes to mind for most people is him being punched in the face, or knocked down and kicked etc... When you then read the article and find that the only "physical assault" was just someone trying to take his glasses off without permission - it's pretty clear where the sensationalism lies.
2) I'd like to hear the story from the other side. I don't doubt Steve's sincerity, but I do doubt his objectivity. He has a known public history of deliberately provoking this kind of confrontation. I find it highly unlikely that anyone - especially a restaurant employee - would just walk over and grab his glasses without first at least asking him to remove them. This gap in the narrative is ruining my suspension of disbelief.
3) Who makes wearable computers that are not easily removable?!? The moniker "wearable" implies the devices can be easily "unworn". The guy is a brilliant engineer - making this sort of system modular and removable would be trivial. If his system is not easily removable, it's not because of any technical barrier, it's because he *deliberately chose* to make it so. The problem is, there's no real reason to have such a device permanently attached unless you are trying to make a political statement. By permanently attaching recording devices to your body, you are deliberately provoking conflict in areas of society where such recording is disallowed. I've read a lot of Steve's writing on "Sousveillance", and it's quite clear that he *is* deliberately trying to make a political statement and provoke a wider conversation on privacy issues, human rights etc... While I agree with a lot of his positions on the matter (everyone should be allowed to record all aspects of their personal experiences, and pervasive recording equipment should be equally available and accessible to individuals as well as groups), I just can't sympathize with someone who intentionally and deliberately puts himself into conflict with "the powers that be" and then complains about the results publicly.
4) I don't buy the story of the images being accidentally captured because of the jolt to the system when the restaurant employee tried to remove it. Sure - if the system was constantly buffering as it was running and was hit so hard it shutdown - then I might believe the "these are just images I luckily managed to retrieve from the buffer" story. But the shoe doesn't fit. The system was clearly running fine *after* whatever impact it took - many of the images he displays on his blog correspond to the parts of the narrative *after* the alleged blow - so the images he displays would not have been in the buffer when that occurred. If the system only stores images transiently during normal operation, why were images retained after the system obviously regained full functionality?
We should all reserve judgement until we can hear the other side of the story - innocent until proven guilty applies to everyone. I addition, Steve needs to:
Honestly if I saw this person come into my establishment, Id tell him to leave too. If he's being obstinate "Oh I cant take off my recording equipment" Id try to take it off, or force him to leave. Or put a bag over his ugly face.
If he sues Id side with McDonalds. They did nothing wrong.
Do you have any evidence that people who shave their heads commit more crime than anyone else?
If you're going to make bigoted, prejudices statements, at least back it up with statistics.
Nobody's choice of where they eat a meal ever has to be justified to you or anyone else. Any attempt to claim otherwise is a lie. You know that, and are making a fuss about the fact that he had the nerve to eat at a McDonald's because you think it gives you an excuse to pretend that Mann somehow deserved to be assaulted. Don't embarrass yourself further by pretending your behavior has any other motivation behind it.
...that not everyone appreciates and embraces human technological advancement the same way.
I took my family to France this year also and won't return soon. Beautiful country but 'rude' doesn't begin to describe the people. I am not basing my experience on an isolated incident, they are pricks, proven fact.
the EU is turning into a pretty violent place
no it isn't. Keep in mind the 99% of places in the EU (literally) where there is no increase in violence don't make for a good news story.
My eyes ARE my recording equipment you insensitive clod!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
Summary:
The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of robotics[1] and 3D computer animation,[2][3] which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers. The "valley" refers to the dip in a graph of the comfort level of humans as a function of a robot's human likeness.
Have you ever wondered about the fate of our species?
We exist in a time unlike any other; a time where man can go beyond the tyranny of flesh and embrace a new tomorrow.
We share the belief of a manifest destiny for our species, a future where human instrumentality evolves into a form beyond our crude flesh and blood.
The next evolution is near, A coming together of man and machine. A synthesis greater than the birth of the human organism.
This is the Singularity. The God in the Machine.
Many cultures predict an end to humanity in the near future, a final Armageddon that will end the world; but we disargee.
We know the future of man.
Join us. Understand the path that unfolds before our species.
Grow beyond the bounds of flesh and blood.
Embrace the Singularity!
TL;DR: Mod parent down.
Since the GP was obviously joking, and you are... not obviously joking, I'm going to guess it's you ("Zaphod The 42nd") who are the asshole here. You might want to think a lot more closely about what you post online in the future. I wouldn't even bother replying to such obvious idiocy if it hadn't been modded up.
P.S. <joke-with-a-care-of-truth>If my parents had tried to take me to McDonalds as any time I was over the age of 6 and knew what food should actually taste like, I'd have assaulted them myself!</joke-with-a-cor-of-truth> Seriously, it's not exactly child abuse or anything, but it certainly isn't behavior I would encourage in any parent... especially if the kids' taste *was* already picky to the point of insisting on junk food.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Lutefisk is Norwegian, you RACIST
Take off every 'sig' !!
Eat a Big Mac.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
I'd like to bring this little nugget to all of those commenters who seem to imply "well it says no camreas its his own fault.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/132918-the-laser-powered-bionic-eye-that-gives-576-pixel-grayscale-vision-to-the-blind
What about a sign make assault acceptable? Perhaps if the persons in question didn't want to be seen my someone else, they should return to their caves. This behavior is indicative of people who only deserve to live in a cave, and do not have a place in modern society.
PS : I guess blind people in France will have to remain blind if they don't want to run the risk of being beaten to death.
For those who might not understand why this is funny here is a link the OP forgot to include explaining CASIE.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Just shy of 900 responses as of this writing and you think that's "silence"?
What I take away from this is that discrimination against cyborgs is a problem in the world. Accordingly, I will refrain from getting any cybernetic replacements until such point that a full-body prosthetic (a la Ghost in the Shell) is available. Because bullies may beat up a wimpy-looking researcher with fancy glasses, but they'll think twice before messing with Batou.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
Isn't Greylisting a lot more like port-knocking than NAT?
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
He probably tried to order a quarter pounder with cheese instead of a royal with cheese.
Is fashion the only thing the French are willing to fight for?
Anything that would catch cops in the act of hassling people are outlawed in the present People's Republic of Amerika...
If it's not solving your problem, you're not using enough.
(I kid!)
They are sniffing your COOKIES and MORE!!!! DO NOT click that link!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance
Personally I utterly avoid expats from my own country. If they pine for home so much then they can go back there. Problem solved.
You've obviously never been to Paris if you think there are any French people (forgive the oxymoron) there.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I've lived in Paris. I've also commuted there on a weekly basis. Over two years, total. I'd say he's not far off the truth.
This may or may not tally with the week you spent there on a GCSE student exchange last year. Perhaps if you'd stuck out the whole fortnight instead of crying to go home to mummy you'd have got a less touristic view.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Well that's more like "citizens make use of their democratic right for public assemblies and manifestations to express their discontent about the current political situation and the governments stomp these rights with their feet and unleash the dogs^H^H^H^Hpolice". Stupid European citizens, think that they have any rights in this oligarchy. Or like one PP party member of the Spanish parliament said it so nicely when the president announced the latest budget cuts targeted at those who are already poor: "que se jodan!"
Is his right eye damaged somehow?
His eye is okay. But he's a researcher in device which can be also used to help people with reduced vision.
He's also "eating his own dog food" and actually uses the device he develops.
If not, then how is the doctor's note supposed to explain his use of the device?
The device is surgically fixed to his skull. He can't remove it or shut it down "easily". The only way to remove the device would be using proper tools to carefully unscrew it from its skull-grafted mount points.
He has probably a doctor's note explaining that the mount points are indeed grafted onto his skull, and that the device is securely fixed to them and there's no easy way to remove it.
Also keep in mind that:
- this device is supposed to be used as a viewing aid for people with viewing disabilities. the target audience for this device is people who can't do without it, and it thus makes sense that the device is bolted in place instead of wearable. it's akin to a body prosthetic. it can be removed or put back, but it's not designed to do that on a whim.
- he's been researching such kind of augmentation FOR MORE THAN THE LAST 30 YEARS. He's been spending more than half of his life with this kind of devices. At that point of time, it kind of makes sense that he has mount point surgically grafted onto his skull: you pretty much now he's not suddenly stopping to wear such kind of stuff any time soon.
Also by having it grafted on him, that helps him being able to constantly field test his reasearch project in real world situation. He'll have them constantly on, and he's also testing the permanent mounts that the potential patient will be using one day.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
during my PhD in Cambridge, UK, I hang out with people from all over the world, it is a very cosmopolitan city at the graduate level. it's the undergraduates that are mostly british.
the italians in the lab were in their own little table during lunchtime. I joined them once to be friendly and occasionally I would slip an english word by accident - I just wasn't used to speaking italian anymore. they complained I was repudiating the italian culture.
filming in a private place, without permission. If I'm in a restaurant and some guy's taking pictures of me and my family then I'd ask him to stop. For all anyone knows the guy could be a paedophile getting his rocks off. It's illegal in most private establishments to take photos of the patrons - it's also considered very very rude at the least. The guy comes across as an arrogant American - the guys were right to bash him, hell even I would have joined in - he shows a complete lack of respect for everyone else in the restaurant.
Be pure, be vigilant, behave!
Actually, if the naturals want to win, shouldn't they misbehaving... a lot.. and winning by force of numbers
The only thing the French are good at hosting, is an invasion.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
For real? They call a big mac a mother fucking Royale with cheese?
I know those guys! They forcibly remove the gold teeth from my neighbours mouth last week. A week before that they were removing a hip joint using pocket knife just around the corner. They glances are making me nervous as I walk by. They could find out about my penis enhancement any time.
>>>OTOH he cannot film random passerby or customer in a premise at will.
French law is not US law, but US law has a premise that may apply in France...mainly due to enforceability...
It's called a "reasonable expectation of privacy."
You have none in public.
So unfair generalizations about Americans are wrong but unfair generalizations about Europeans are ok? Yeah, there are some messed up people in Paris, so they represent all Europeans?
He didn't ask for this...
Collectively we humans are a primitive bunch. We can't even handle differences in skin color without inspiring murder and war.
Imagine increasing numbers of privileged people with the resources for self-augmentation actually wandering around with pieces of metal and electronics permanently protruding from their faces (especially hardware that gets in the way of eye contact). I could see a bit of a problem with societal acceptance, especially if there's no way to know if they are recording your interactions with them.
Until such self-augmentation becomes invisible in casual encounters I'd say it's a really bad idea to make them permanent.
Considering all the campaigning the guy has done about privacy rights, it's totally bizarre that he's recording 24/7, even when he goes to private businesses with a reasonable expectation that you wouldn't be recording. Then when somebody attacks him for it, he mails their photographs and id cards to all the national embassies he can, and posts face-redacted photographs to the internet.
I guess when the shoe's on the other foot, he's actually opposed to privacy rights.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
He's in Paris (a city full of great restaurants) and he decides to eat (and feed his kids at) a McDonald's. I guess he needs an IQ booster.
That is at least what I teach my daughter. So should others. This incident just proves that McDonalds is also an establishment that is so poor it can not afford to hire people with brains.
The one time I tried MacDonalds on Champs Elysees I was sick for two days. Employees probably figured he had augmented taste buds as well, and saved him from a fate worse than death.
Mann claims that the device stores images in a ring buffer. Unless the device stops working, they'll get overwritten.
Ok, the device got damaged, so he can show some interesting last pictures. It seems to be a reasonable large buffer, with pictures showing the cashier and the incident (even the guy flipping his name tag).
I wonder if there are good algorithms to process several minutes of visual recording in real-time in order to enhance the user's current vision? Like identifying/tracking persons or SLAM?
Try reading my comment next time rather than assuming the first random comment that pops into your mind is apropos (hint: I chose my words quite carefully).
To take the rest of the fun out of the post, JMenderley's password is knight_killer, read Gunther's email to him. (Just happened to be replaying Deus Ex and recognized the skullgun line. Funny how you can walk right up to the guy's desk and use his computer while he's sitting there and he doesn't give a damn what classified secrets you're browsing, but touch a book in his office and he goes off on you about minding your clearance).
Yes, he should never of been accosted. That's just ridiculous. However, he's a PITA as well. No where does it say that this is a necessary prosthetic. Just because he has a doctors note saying what it is, doesn't say that the doctor's note justified it as required. All we have here is a guy who researches augmented reality and wants to tote around his experimental toy. The assumption that he has some inane right to bring his gadgets wherever he pleases is nonsense. The fact that he built it in such a way that it can't be removed is also nonsense. He presumes that everyone will just accept it and must accept it. Well perhaps he has made a new discovery. His next version should be removable. Also, he might also want to consider being more respectful of others who might no want to be "augmented" without their consent.
Cheers.
there you go. maybe he shouldn't eat at mcdonald's.
This is a complete sham in my opinion - I live in Toronto. I go to University at his adress here in Toronto, 330 Dundas is property of The Art Gallery of Ontario. I Found that intriguing. Maybe I know him i do school there. The Row of houses are all commercial and his stated address in particular from the webarticle is a boarded up unused building! I'm looking at it right now, Hahaha. These feels like a scam or a oney grab to me. I've seen these before - another one while I was looking for my apartment to rent, they had this awesome web advertisment, beautiful imagery, but they in response to me, they wrote that they trust me and they will let me look around my self if I first leave my Full name Adress, Social Insurance Number banking information anything and everything about my identity and A key deposit of $250 to their paypal account... When google maps brought up the place there it was a vacant parking lot and a elementary school. No beautiful 2 story house. Now the technology aspect is cool. The dude might even exist! This web article is designed and tailored to allow voluntary donation. Does it sound like a Canadian to you to Sue over a few hundred dollars of damage? No - He would have apologized to his attackers and forgave them.
I also feel that the pictures seem very posed. So that is what I make of it. Just incase any one is picking up correspondence to donate money or anything.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
No kidding.. I'd say that the EU is self-destructing.. from the inside..
What kind of wimp must he have been to get mugged by French Hoodlums?
seriously??? your condemning this man because he wants to see? bunch of inbred arrogant morons. you all are.
Hey it is the "permanently attached and does not come off my skull..." part that I would be worried about.
let them at it, after that the teeps just have to clean up and take over, sounds like a plan
Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
Your post is rated "Funny", but I fear that it has te ring of truth to it. Maybe a lot more than you realize
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
I suspect this has more to do with the French apporoach to privacy than anything else...so not in compliance with EU privacy directives...I feel sorry for the researcher but know your potentially hostile environments...France, Italy, and Poland for certain.
...and have no truck with the alien too!
-- Cisk for the Cisk God
This is a message directed to Steven Mann:
In the article u asked: "I don't have the resources to take on a branch of a large multi-national corporation operating in a distant country, but I could use some help and advice as to how to resolve this matter, how to ensure it doesn't happen again to me or anyone else wearing Eye Glass"
You need to sue McDonalds if you want to ensure the safety of future consumers. It is your responsibility to contact a lawyer who is willing to make them pay financially for this act of prejudice. No change will occur unless you do something to make them notice. McDonalds will only notice if a significant amount of profit is taken from them.
Even if you do not wish to be personally compensated for this public assult, you still need to find a lawyer who is willing to take money from McDonalds in order to have them notice. If you dont do this, nothing will happen and prejudicial treatment and possibly assult will occur to others less strong then you.
Please step up and make a difference. Contact a lawyer. It is not bad or evil thing to make them pay for this. This behaviour needs to change and McDonalds has no business defending such behaviour at any of their establishments.
A policy that requires no cameras in an establishment cannot be enforced due to the previlence of cell phones. I do not think they have a requirement that no cell phones are allowed to be used within McDonalds... how could they? The demographic is too large. Simply because you stood out as "different" they treated you differently then the thousands of others who take photos with cell phones and are not so obvious. They should have called the police to remove you from the estabilishment since they had already taken your money as a customer while the camera was in full site and the employees were already aware of its usage. To take ur money and then refuse to provide you with the opportunity to eat the food is not fullfilling the contract you estabilished when u gave them the money and they provided the food.
Well Im not a lawyer, but I think this is something for which they are totally liable. They damaged your equipment so it will be apparent that physical force was used. You have their pictures and location so the parties involved can be held accountable. They destroyed personal property including a note from a doctor.
I believe u have a case and if so it should be easy to find a lawyer to assist you in holding McDonalds financially responsible for damages. Please do the right thing here and contact a lawyer about suing McDonalds in general and this establishment and the employees who assulted you.
I cannot believe the number of people who are choosing not to hold the restaraunt liable for this. The way he was treated was wrong and the way they handled it was wrong. The establishment took his money in a contract of sale. They could have refused him service since they already had knowledge of the device and its purpose. Instead they took his money and subsequently treated him as if he was not a welcome customer. It doesnt matter whether one guy said it was ok to be a customer and later some other employees decided it was not ok. They should have called the police instead of taking physical action on an established customer after the contract of sale was completed. They should be held fully accountable and forced to answer for this rediculous rule about cameras and how they enforce it. From the tone of most replies here, I tend to think this article is being replied to by McDonalds staff.
Mr Mann should sue mcdonalds. Even if Mr Mann only wants to be rembused for physical damages I should hope that some lawyer will put a significant financial dent in this establishment and mcdonalds corporate. Even if he doesnt do this for himself, he should do this for others after him. This is a stupid policy and even stupider enforcement. McDonalds will only recognize this when it costs them money. Please sue this establishment, those employees and mcdonalds. It is the right thing to do.
It's just like the grandfather who got face-slammed to the concrete floor at WalMart last Christmas -- stay out of these kind of filthy hell-holes and you've nothing to worry about. I wouldn't go into a McDonalds if I was starving to death.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
I heard the US is full of mad people with big guns who keep going to McDonald's and make the larger carnagge ever.
There, are we done with stupid stereotypes? Or should we Europeans continue counter-attacking with the stupid lost American tourist?
Only on slashdot - stupid and desperately misinformed stereotypes modded 5 insightful.
Aside from a proclivity to fart in my direction, what is so disgusting about French men?
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Funny how the last McDonalds story led to many posts about "dumb Americans" and "typical American behavior". But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
Or stay out of France... Bunch of racists and rudest "customer service" in the world.
Statistically most Americans do come across as "dumb" or "ignorant" to other countries. For whatever reason most Americans seem to be very uneducated about the rest of the world. I am not saying Americans are less intelligent, just uneducated about other countries compared to European's, Canadian's, etc. Plus being the only country in the world still clinging to an antiquated Standard Measurement system doesn't help, lol.
cloaking would have been a good choice too
the singularity is upon us!!
If everybody who read this went to http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/contact_us/social_responsibility.html, clicked the Question button and filled in a statement suggesting McDonald's investigate and address the issue, as I did yesterday, you can bet your sweet bippy they'd act and act fast!
He's a self-important idiot. And even if his claims are true, he was attacked for walking into a bathroom with a headful of CAMERAS -- cameras he couldn't remove!
Social etiquette tip for would-be Borgs: remove your laser guided head mounted surveillance equipment when walking into a urinal.
DUH
Northernspy
But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
Maybe because none of us really refer to ourselves being European. In this case we simply state that they were stupid French people instead.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Funny how the last McDonalds story led to many posts about "dumb Americans" and "typical American behavior". But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
Your comment is negated by a little incident in a cinema, (American + gun = dead people) we might not agree with everything over here but we do not shot people when we disagree width them.
Or just stay out of Europe. In case you've not seen the news lately, the EU is turning into a pretty violent place with citizens attacking police & vice versa.
Funny how the last McDonalds story led to many posts about "dumb Americans" and "typical American behavior". But when the Europeans act stupid suddenly there is silence.
Have you watched the domestic news lately? Ok, now imagine all of that magnified by a 25% unemployment rate.... Then consider the fact that, for the most part, European police haven't been militarized wholesale like depts. in the US have been. Finally, is it really a good thing that Americans are too busy watching football and/or stuffing their faces to get off the couch. If they do get off the couch to vote, many of them vote against their self-interest (about half). Anyway, do we really need to bring up the whole Europe sux/US rawks stuff every time there a completely obscure and random story like this? Also, it could just be me but, I haven't seen/heard of any cool tech projects funded by the govt. in a while, oop, unless you can strap said cool project to some sort of weapons system... but anyway... Try adding to the convo. next time instead of pointing and saying "naaaah-ner nanner Nah-ner! Eur-ope suh-x."
you gotta let the insults slide. If every dumbass stereotype on Slashdot gets you upset, you'll either have to stop reading, or be upset all the time.
Awl be back B-|
Well, in America, it's the cops doing the beating in a case like this, and it would be perfectly legal. Oh, wait, in some states they've passed some laws about that, but they seem to be working around them.
Anyway, look at things from the outside. There's a guy with a camera stuck to his head. Do you really want him to record you while eating, while going to the bathroom?
Aren't Americans supposed to be big on the privacy issue?
Anyway, from what I saw, there were only a few well chosen pictures, no sequence or anything. If he has any REAL proof, he'll call the police and make a complaint, even if it's just a formal one. If not, then McDonalds could sue him.