UK cinemas to ban Google Glass over piracy concerns

Shawn Knight

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Google Glass crossed the pond earlier this month but the reception hasn't exactly been stellar. According to a report from The Independent, cinemas in the UK are preparing to ban the headset over fears that it would be used to make pirated copies of movies.

Phil Clapp, chief executive of the Cinema Exhibitors' Association, said customers will be asked not to wear Glass into cinema auditoriums whether a film is playing or not. A spokesperson for the Vue theater chain said they will ask guests to remove the eyewear as soon as the lights dim at the start of a movie.

Some may think the ban is a bit much as Glass can only record 45 minutes of continuous video footage before the battery expires. But as the publication points out, gangs are able to stitch together multiple clips and dub an audio track over the video to make usable bootlegs that can be sold or uploaded online with ease.

Earlier this year, an AMC movie theater called the authorities over a suspected film pirate. Federal agents reportedly detained a man they thought was using Glass to illegally record a movie, holding him for questioning for about three and a half hours before finally letting him go.

Movie theaters aren't the only ones with privacy concerns as it relates to Glass. Hospitals are also expected to ask visitors to remove the headset to protect patient privacy. Perhaps this whole privacy scare is one of the reasons we didn't see or hear much of anything about Glass at this year's I/O conference?

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Will the battery last for a full movie?

I suppose you could record over 2 visits though.
 
It's not that much of a restriction, you will probably take them off anyway if you're watching a movie, except if you want to make a pirated copy in this case, which will probably not happen.
 
Perhaps this whole privacy scare is one of the reasons we didn't see or hear much of anything about Glass at this year's IO conference?
Yeah, or Google realized there's another whole world outside their design labs where people think wearing technology on their face looks foolish.

But as the publication points out, gangs are able to stitch together multiple clips.
Good choice of words... I would have said 'groups' instead of 'gangs' because 'gang' usually implies criminal activity of the drugs/guns nature. But now we can wonder what a gang would be called who specialized in pirated movies using Glass. The West Side Glassh0les maybe?
 
Since when did google glass have the battery life to record a 2hr film and the storage capacity for it...

Thanks tards for making british people look like pathetic uneducated scared old men....

Seriously what stupid person thinks technology is that advanced.... I mean come on seriously now...
 
You'd have to keep really really still, and not eat any popcorn, for this to work...
 
LOL more Google Glass FUD. I assure you United Kingdom-ites... no one wants to watch a shaky-cam video of a movie at 640x360. Hell I dont even want to watch a home movie of my kids at 640x360.
 
LOL more Google Glass FUD. I assure you United Kingdom-ites... no one wants to watch a shaky-cam video of a movie at 640x360. Hell I dont even want to watch a home movie of my kids at 640x360.
Someone gave me a camcorder version of the film, "Thor". I booted it up, watched for less than a minute, then threw it away.

As horrible as the quality was, it seems people are willing to pay for it, perhaps because it's a bootleg, not in spite of it.. I couldn't possibly envision myself sitting through the whole sordid affair. Redbox had it a couple of months later, and it was, "still new to me"!:)
 
Why do you want to wear glasses anyway? They make you look like a nerd.,
No Tony you don't understand. Proper prescription glasses make you look like a nerd while Google glasses make you look mega, awesomely cool because they have that little thing on the side so you can take snaps and shoot videos, or so I've been told... by youngsters no less. Get with it.
 
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