Google Glass units have only been on sale to early Glass Explorer beta testers in the United Kingdom since June 23, but already the devices are the subject of a ban inside movie theaters.
The reason for the ban, according to a June 29 report in The (London) Independent, is that theater owners are worried that some patrons wearing the devices would use them to make pirated copies of popular and profitable films being shown inside theaters. “Recording in cinemas is the source of more than 90 per cent of all illegally copied films in their release form,” the paper reported.
“Customers will be requested not to wear these into cinema auditoriums, whether the film is playing or not,” Phil Clapp, chief executive of the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association, told the paper.
The ban certainly arrived quickly. Google Glass only went on sale in the U.K. on June 23, marking the first place where Glass is available for sale other than the United States. Glass units in the U.K. are priced at 1,000 British Pounds, which is equivalent to about $1,703 U.S.
The Glass devices built specifically for the U.K. include software that is localized for the British market, including such things as weather temperatures being listed in Celsius rather than in Fahrenheit, as well as improved voice recognition for U.K. accents, according to Google. The Glass team is also working with U.K. developers to provide locally relevant Glassware for use by customers across the pond.
“Google Glass batteries power down after 45 minutes of continuous recording, making it unlikely anyone could capture an entire film,” The Independent reported. “But gangs now have the ability to combine video sourced from one cinema with images and sound from another to produce counterfeit discs, mass-produced for sale or upload.”
Google has certainly heard these kinds of concerns about Glass in the past here in the United States.
In January 2014, a network administrator from Columbus, Ohio, was removed from a movie theater and questioned by federal authorities over concerns that he was using the Google Glass on his head to film a bootleg copy of the movie being shown in the theater, according to an earlier eWEEK report.
That followed the case of a California driver who was stopped for speeding in October 2013 and cited for speeding and for driving while wearing Google Glass. The case against her was eventually dismissed when a judge ruled that the arresting officer had not observed her actually using the head-mounted computer.
Concerns about Google Glass and the law had surfaced even before both of these cases. Reports from around the nation have occasionally made headlines when bars, restaurants and other public facilities have posted signs inside their establishments banning the use of Google Glass inside due to privacy and other issues.
Google Glass Banned in U.K. Movie Theaters
The topic of Google Glass potentially being worn by drivers was even raised in March 2013 in West Virginia, where a state legislator introduced a bill that would have banned driving by persons wearing head-mounted displays, including Google Glass. But the bill stalled and never came up for a vote. The sponsor of that bill said his main concern with the devices is that they could create safety issues such as driver distraction, especially for younger, less-experienced drivers who might be among the users most likely to buy such technology.
In February 2014, Google sought to lessen some of the concerns that were sprouting about Glass by publishing an online etiquette guide to using Google Glass in public without offending other people. The etiquette guide includes lists of “do’s” and “don’ts” when it comes to using Glass devices around other people.
At the same time, Google Glass is also gaining acceptance in the marketplace even before its official launch to consumers, which is expected sometime this year.
In June, Google announced the availability of Glass devices featuring high-fashion frames designed by American fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. In March, Google announced that it was partnering with eyeglass frame vendor The Luxottica Group to someday offer trendy frames from famous makers such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, Vogue-Eyewear and Alain Mikli as Glass units get closer to rumored retail production. In January, Google announced a deal with eyewear and vision insurer VSP Global that will cover a portion of Google Glass frames and prescription lenses for its insurance customers.
In February 2014, Virgin Atlantic Airlines announced that it was using Google Glass to test how it and similar wearable computing innovations could help assist airline passengers from their arrival at an airport through boarding and departure, and even with in-flight experiences. The airline’s six-week-long Google Glass pilot project was visible to passengers as they arrived at London Heathrow airport, where concierge staff in the airline’s Upper Class Wing used Google Glass and other wearable technology to deliver personalized customer service.
Virgin’s testing with Glass came on the heels of a related experiment with Glass by the New York Police Department, which began trials in December 2013 to see how the devices could be used in police work. The devices have not yet been deployed in any actual field or patrol operations, but reviews are being done to see how they may be used in the future, according to the department.
Google Glass has been a topic of conversation among techies since news of the futuristic eyeglass-mounted computing devices first surfaced in 2012 at the Google I/O developer’s conference in the U.S. Developers at the show were offered the chance to buy early “Explorer” versions of Glass for $1,500 for testing and development. Glass was the hit of that conference.