Feds Pull Google Glass User From Movie Theater For Suspected Piracy

A man from Columbus, Ohio recently had a different kind of experience while sitting down to enjoy a movie at one of AMC’s theaters. Somewhere around the one hour mark of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, officials came out of the shadows and pulled him from his seat.

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The reason? He was enjoying the movie while wearing Google Glass. As part of Glass’s testing program, this man even had a prescription version of the glasses. No doubt surprised by the the rude interruption in the middle of the movie that he paid to see, it was undoubtedly what they had to say that really surprised him.
Thinking that this man might be recording the movie via Google Glass to later pirate, the theater decided to call in the big guns who he referred to as “feds”.

What’s The Deal?
After the man was pulled from his seat, he was then seemingly interrogated by men he believed were federal agents. They asked him just about everything about his life – what he did, where he lived, how much money he made, why he was wearing Google Glass in a movie theater, you name it. He even had to hand over the glasses so they could view everything that was on them.
Eventually, they determined that his Google Glasses were part of a legal prescription and that the recording feature had been turned completely off before the movie even started. Apparently movie theaters everywhere are starting to crack down on piracy. Ryan Noonan, who is AMC’s Public Relations Director, had this to say regarding the incident:
“Movie theft is something we take very seriously, and our theater managers contact the Motion Picture Association of America any time it’s suspected that someone may be illegally recording content on screen. While we’re huge fans of technology and innovation, wearing a device that has the capability to record video is not appropriate at the movie theatre. At AMC Easton 30 last weekend, a guest was questioned for possible movie theft after he was identified wearing a recording device during a film. The presence of this recording device prompted an investigation by the MPAA, which was on site. The MPAA then contacted Homeland Security, which oversees movie theft. The investigation determined the guest was not recording content.”
What do you think of this story? Was AMC acting well within their rights or did they take things a step to far?

Source:theverge Image:mediaite

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