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Woman Attacked In San Francisco Bar For Wearing Google Glass
First time accepted submitter Martin Blank writes "Sarah Slocum, an early adopter of Google Glass, was bar hopping with friends in San Francisco when a few people in the bar took issue with the eyewear when she was demonstrating it to another patron even though she wasn't recording. When she felt threatened, she informed them that she would start recording. Two of them approached her, yelling and throwing a bar rag at her, and ultimately ripping the Glass from her face and running from the bar with it. She gave chase and eventually got the Glass back, but her purse was gone when she returned to the bar. This physical level of hostility is unusual, but discomfort with Glass is common, especially among those who don't understand how it works. Given that much more hidden spy cameras are available for far less than the $1500 cost of Glass, what will it take for general acceptance to finally take hold?"
FTA: "You [i.e. rich hipster techies] are killing this city!"
It may have ostensibly been about privacy, but clearly it was also about resentment towards tech-industry aristos displacing everyone else,
with their private busses and their artisanal vodkas and fancy gadgets and most of all their ability to pay obscene rents and stay in The City
rather than commuting in from Gilroy.
>;k
just stop pointing your camera at me. I don't care if it's showing a red light or not. She was being obnoxious, and wouldn't stop when asked.
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
People don't like being recorded, or even the possibility of being recorded, without their express permission. That's not going to change, therefore there isn't going to be any "general acceptance" of technology like this.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Pathetic self-promoting blogger
When I first read about this 2 days ago witnesses said it was her friend who threw the first punch after she was insulted.
From TFA
Slocum said she was bar hopping with friends when they ended up at the bar in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. She was showing one curious bar patron Google Glass when two women started shielding their faces and rolling their eyes, she said. One of the women made an obscene gesture, Slocum said.
Feeling threatened, she said she told them she was going to record with Google Glass.
That’s when she said one of the women and a man “charged” her, telling her they did not want to be filmed.
She could have walked away, but instead she chose to up the ante by threatening the patrons with recording their objections to being filmed.
Slocum said the woman then ran up to her, saying “you are killing the city” and tried to grab Google Glass from her. Then the man “ripped them off my face and ran out of the bar,” Slocum said.
Now that is interesting as it may be indicative of a general anti-Google aspect in the city as much as an anti-glass thing.
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what will it take for general acceptance to finally take hold?
A red LED that glows when the 'glasses' are actually recording and is dark when they aren't.
Which is easily disabled. Even laptop camera lights that claimed to be "hardware inline" has been showed to have exploits that malware can use to disable the light while recording (they won't really be as "inline" as you think because of noise issues with that, and the fact that many cameras these days double as light sensors, so they are always on). If you are the owner it is even easier, you can cover up the light, or disconnect a wire.
Of course, we don't really know the nature of the incident; if this woman was antagonistic herself...
If you read the original article, a couple of women nearby rolled their eyes and covered their faces, clearly not wanting to be recorded. She said she felt "threatened" by this, and specifically TOLD them she would now be recording them. Sounds pretty antagonistic to me.
And only the wearer knows if it is recording or not.
Sadly, the law in most areas says no expectation of privacy in public places which includes at a bar. Most bars have security cameras in them anyway and the management has full access to strategically-placed video feeds.
But the expectation is that bar management won't go posting video of tipsy patrons behaving comically on web sites for all the world to see.
I think people running around with video cameras on their heads that may or may not be filming everyone else is just going too far.
Glassholes indeed.
Cell phones these days are cameras. Looking it one is like looking in a camera's viewfinder. If you claim it's not offensive, I'm fine with that, but then using google glass is not offensive either.
Looking at your cellphone != Holding the camera up pointing at the room with the screen towards you. When you look at your phone, where is the lens pointed? Answer: somewhere on the ground, not too far away from your feet. You only hold it vertically up near eye level when you are using the camera.
On a related note: how do you feel about people wearing Glass type devices in places that forbid recording (bathrooms, locker rooms, etc)?