Wearables allow us to do more with our connected devices, but the added functionality brings with it a slew of issues as far as privacy, security, and social conduct are concerned. When Google Glass burst onto the scene last year, many people worried about how the ease with which users could record video and take photos. With Google Glass now available in the United Kingdom (the first expansion outside the United States), people in the UK are dealing with the same concerns, and it looks like UK cinemas will be the first to say 'no' to Google Glass users.
Less than a week after the device's release, the Independent reports that the Cinema Exhibitors' Association has said that users will be asked to remove their glasses in auditoriums whether the movie is playing or not. Representing 90 percent of UK cinema operators, including Cineworld, Odeon, Savoy, and Vue Cinemas, and the Independent reports that one movie-goer has already been asked to remove his headset inside a cinema in Leicester Square.
While pirates could conceivably record the latest summer blockbuster using Google Glass, it's highly unlikely that they'd actually want to. For a start, Google Glass wasn't exactly built for shooting in the dark. Then there's the fact that it can't even come close to feature length films in terms of battery life when recording video. They'd have to plug it in to an external battery while recording or choose which half hour portion of the movie they want to record before the unit dies. Then again, people had no problem downloading an early and incomplete version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine when it became available a few years back, so perhaps there is a market for parts of new or highly anticipated movies.
Google Glass launched in the United Kingdom last week and costs £1000 to buy. Google is still calling Glass a work in progress and has stressed that the device isn’t yet ready for the mass market. However, unlike the initial Explorer Program launch in the U.S., anyone in the UK over 18 can buy Glass, so the folks in Mountain View are slowly getting to a point where they comfortable selling to the every day man.
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