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(Image Source: CNET / StopTheCyborgs )
BY CHARESSE JAMES
Google’s augmented reality “Project Glass” eyewear may still be in development,
but one Seattle bar is beating the product to the punch — preemptively banning the
device from its premises.
The 5 Point, a self-described dive bar in Seattle’s Belltown
neighborhood, posted a notice to its Facebook page this week telling techies they will have
to ditch the specs if they’re looking to visit the watering hole, saying:
“For
the record, The 5 Point is the first Seattle business to ban in advance Google Glasses.
And *** kickings will be encouraged for violators.”
For those of you not up to speed with the latest
tech trends, Google Glass is a prototype product by, you guessed it, Google. The eyewear can
take pictures, record video and display info like mapping directions and social conversations
within the user’s field of vision. The bar’s owner, Dan Meinert, says the ban is a matter
of protecting his patron’s privacy. (Via Google)
“You have to understand the
culture of The 5 Point which is a sometimes seedy, maybe notorious place and I think people
want to go there and be not known … Part of this is a joke, to be funny on Facebook
and get a reaction, but part of it is serious because we don't let people film other people
or take photos unwanted of other people in the bar because it’s kind of a private place
people go.” (Via KIRO-FM)
And that’s been a legitimate concern in Seattle over
the past year.
In November, an anonymous man — dubbed the “Creeper Cameraman”
— posted a series of YouTube videos in which he took a camera around Seattle and other
parts of Washington state, walking up to people and recording them for no apparent reason.
(Via YouTube / ScooperMedia)
When the incidents occurred, tech bloggers like Brian
Hall, called it a preview of our future, of what could happen when technology like Project
Glass made cameras and recording devices more pervasive in our daily lives. (Via GeekWire)
And
a writer for PC Mag, wonders, who’s next?
“It will be curious to see just how many establishments
big and small end up adopting a similar policy as Meinert's. After all, the ability to record
at one's fingertips just by looking at something, versus shoving a smartphone, tablet, or video
camera at that which you're filming, is relatively new ground for business and people to deal
with.”
But a Google spokesperson tells CNET, as with all technological advancement,
it’ll just take society some time to get used to.
"It is still very early days
for Glass, and we expect that as with other new technologies, such as cell phones, behaviors
and social norms will develop over time."