Posted on 01/21/2014 10:26:20 AM PST by Red Badger
As if you needed another reason not to wear your dumb Google Glass in public—or ever, actually—an Ohio man claims he was yanked out of a movie theater and interrogated by federal agents, who believed he was illegally filming the movie with his face computer.
The man’s full account is posted on The Gadgeteer, but we’ll summarize it here so you can get the gist of it before you’re engulfed forever in this ghastly winter storm.
Last Saturday, our Glass-wearing protagonist and his wife went to a showing of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit at an AMC in Columbus, Ohio. About an hour into the movie, he says some federal agents yanked the Glass off the man’s face, pulled the pair out of the theater and took them to separate interrogation rooms.
The man, who’d just been trying to enjoy a crappy movie with his lovely wife on a Saturday night, says he was accused of illegally taping the movie and questioned extensively about “who I am, where I live, where I work, how much I’m making, how many computers I have at home, why am I recording the movie, who am I going to give the recording to, why don’t I just give up the guy up the chain, ’cause they are not interested in me. Over and over and over again.”
The agents also allegedly displayed this level of ridiculousness:
They wanted to know where I got Glass and how did I came by having it. I told them I applied about 1000 times to get in the explorer program, and eventually I was selected, and I got the Glass from Google. I offered to show them receipt and Google Glass website if they would allow me to access any computer with internet. Of course, that was not an option. Then they wanted to know what does Google ask of me in exchange for Glass, how much is Google paying me, who is my boss and why am I recording the movie.
After an hour of intense interrogation, the agents hooked the Glass up to a computer, and saw that all it was storing were personal family photos, he says. They allegedly went through his phone, too, and found nothing.
Then everybody felt really bad, and gave the man and his wife four free movie passes, so they can go see Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit again, twice.
Based on this strange tale, here are some things we should probably establish:
1) AMC needs to learn what Google Glass is, set out a policy as to whether its patrons can wear it or not. Yes, it’s pretty weird and suspicious that this dude was wearing Glass to the movies. Why would anybody do that, if not to film the movie? But having the feds remove a man from his seat mid-movie is pretty shitty, when what he’s doing isn’t expressly prohibited in the first place.
2) Law enforcement officials should make an effort to keep up-to-date on the latest technological advancements, so they don’t unintentionally behave like dodos.
3) Not that we couldn’t guess this before, but Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is probably a move that you should not go see.
UPDATE: The man was wearing Google Glass that had prescription lenses, meaning he needed the Glass to see the movie. He also told Gadgeteer he could have moved a few rows up to see, though. We are awaiting a call back from AMC about their policy on wearing Glass — prescription or not — in theaters.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57617504-71/google-glass-at-the-movies-gets-man-interrogated/
...In the comments section of her piece, the Gadgeteer’s Julie Strietelmeier insisted: “I talked to the author and know his friend who has frequented The Gadgeteer for years. I believe them and the story.”
I have contacted AMC in an attempt to confirm that the substance of this story is true and will update, should I hear. It will be interesting to see if an anti-Google Glass stance is, indeed, AMC policy...
Don’t know the movie, nor the plot ... will wait until it shows up on HULU for free.
There must be something else about this guy. Google glasses?? Unless the dude is stalking someone??
We should just ban movies. After all, it was an excerpt from a small production movie that caused our Libyan embassy to be attacked.
Just think of how much harm could happen from a big movie production?
Gestapo tactics. Designed to shake a person up and get him to say something that can be used against him.
Yes.
Most people are no match for that kind of interrogation.
Could be. Last week a "demon baby" publicity stunt got national media attention.
Feds respond to a movie theater for a camera?
Sounds fishy.
AMC has interrogation rooms now?
I call BS on this whole story.
If you follow the story links, first it was an MPAA employee on site (yea, right) who made the call to Homeland Security then another story line that said the FBI showed up.......
If you do a google search on movie piracy, you're led to an MPAA website that gives you toll free numbers in various countries in which to call........
Look how long it typically takes law enforcement to respond to a violence call and we're to believe either Homeland Security or the FBI is going to make a run to a local movie theater to check out some guy with Google Glasses????......LOL!
HULU is free?
That’s an excellent point! Even if this never happened, and I do not believe it did (at least the way as reported) remember two individuals: Scooter Libby and Martha Stewart. They were both prosecuted for LYING to investigators. Not for any crime they were being investigated for in the first place, but just for not telling the truth in Stewarts case, and forgetting and miss-stating in Libby’s case.
If the FBI wanted to, they could probably sit us down, ask a couple of hundred questions, and use our answers to “prove” we were not being truthful and therefore lying under oath, a felony. A successful prosecution would mean you have no gun rights. Think on that for a moment.
From: Walls, Khaalid H [mailto:Khaalid.H.Walls@ice.dhs.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:16 PM
To: Allison Manning
Subject: ICE
H Ally,
Please attribute the below statement to me:
On Jan. 18, special agents with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and local authorities briefly interviewed a man suspected of using an electronic recording device to record a film at an AMC theater in Columbus. The man, who voluntarily answered questions, confirmed to authorities that the suspected recording device was also a pair of
prescription eye glasses in which the recording function had been inactive. No further action was taken.
Khaalid Walls, ICE spokesman
Khaalid WallsSince the article has a phone number and email address, I suggest concerned citizens ask if this is appropriate use of ICE agents, when we have so many illegal aliens in our borders... Oh yes, Hussein wants them to stop deporting them. Guess they have other laws to enforce...
Public Affairs Officer
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
313-226-0726
313-215-7657(m)
The same thing as google glasses, and you can record with it, and probably no one will notice.
.....and “where were you during the Benghazi attack and why did you order a stand-down?”
Interesting to see AMC designs interrogation rooms into their cinema floor plans. I wonder how often they are used.
I lived and worked in Hollywood for several years. Practically everyone knows someone who works in the industry, and copies of movies are always floating around before they even hit the theaters. Thousands of studio employees all bring them home, they make copies for all their friends and relatives and neighbors... everyone has them. And they’re good copies too... not some crap recorded in a theater by some amateur.
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