Seattle Bar Owner Bans Google Glass, In Advance

An anonymous reader writes "A popular Seattle bar and restaurant has posted a notice on its Facebook page warning patrons that wearing Google Glass will not be tolerated. 'Ass kicking will be encouraged for violators,' wrote Dave Meinert, owner of the 5 Point Cafe, perhaps in a mock aggressive tone. GeekWire reports that Meinert raised privacy concerns in an interview with a local radio station: 'People want to go there and be not known and definitely don't want to be secretly filmed or videotaped and immediately put on the Internet.' A subsequent FB post includes more Meinert musings on Google Glass: 'They are really just the new fashion accessory for the fanny pack & never removed Bluetooth headset wearing set,' along with unflattering photos of a pair of early adopters."

Comments

That's his right

[Anonymous Coward]

And it's my right to take my business elsewhere.

Re:That's his right

[Dins]

In point of fact, the plural of MILF would actually be MILF.

Mothers....

Re:That's his right

[Anonymous Coward]

a "milf" can be considered one thing though. when pronounced aloud, "milfs" is the sensible plural.

there's no reason to always be pedantic about everything.

Re:That's his right

[jotaass]

I have the absolute natural right to videotape anything my eye can behold, period.

That's a weird point. Your eye does not have perfect vision, you do not hold your memories indefinitely and you cannot feed what you see to a computer to be scanned and analyzed forever. It's one thing for you to look at me, it's a whole other thing when your machine does it. I agree that's the way the world is going, but shouldn't we feel sad about it? We can marvel at the technology, and as geeks we do, but seriously? Perfect infinite crowd-funded surveillance? Of everyone and everything? How is that a good thing?

Re:That's his right

[shutdown -p now]

We can marvel at the technology, and as geeks we do, but seriously? Perfect infinite crowd-funded surveillance? Of everyone and everything? How is that a good thing?

It's not a good thing or a bad thing. It's a different thing, and the culture will change to accommodate it.

The 5 Point

[blackfeltfedora]

Is a dive bar located 2 blocks from the Space Needle. The best thing I can say about it is that you can watch the CCTV of the laundry next door. I did like being able to enjoy a beer while keeping an eye on my stuff in the dryer.

Re:Meh

[hedwards]

What you're suggesting is that stalking ought to be legal. It's one thing to take a couple pictures of somebody in public or to record them as part of the background and completely something else to have long systemized accounts of what people are doing via hidden cameras.

The rulings that established precedent were done during a time when it was costly to have small cameras with large amount of storage capacity and where the internet wasn't yet fast enough to allow for widespread sharing. And where one was likely to be able to see the people doing the recording.

In the past it wasn't an issue, now it is, it wasn't possible to accumulate much data from this in most cases because the processing power available to your average person was miniscule and one didn't have the ability to cross reference huge troves of data.

But, just because you're in a public place does not grant permission to take the photos of people, especially not if you're using hidden cameras or are taking photos in places where people don't expect to have their images taken.

In short that's bullshit right there.

Re:Meh

[Fluffeh]

No threat of physical violence = ok.

As someone who actually has a stalker at the moment, I totally disagree with that statement. While I am not overly threatened in a physical manner, that's not to say that constant emails, texts and phone calls from someone is okay. The last thing I need to be added to the list is a constant video feed of where I am, who I am with. Stalking isn't just about a physical threat - it's basically about someone harassing you and many people you know.

How would you feel if you had twenty-ish missed calls on your work phone over a weekend from one number - just so they could listen to your voicemail over and over?
How would you feel if your stalker for your home address and often drove past the house checking to see what was going on, or couriered flowers and presents on a regular basis?
How would you feel if photos were sent to your parents and friends house of random nights out with quotes of "Whore" and "Bitch" pointing to friends?

These are just some of the things that fall under stalking and let me tell you that while I appreciate that folks have rights to do what they like, I have also learned that people do deserve to have a certain right to a little privacy even out in public.