Vue and the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association trade group have banned Google Glass in Cinemas across the UK citing piracy and copyright concerns.
Vue has said that it will ask cinemagoers to remove Google Glass as soon as the lights inside the cinema hall dim whereas Cinema Exhibitors’ Association has said that customers will be requested not to wear Google Glass into cinema auditoriums regardless of whether the film is playing or not.
Google Glass went on sale in the UK for £1,000 and one of the early adopters of the eyewear has already faced an awkward situation being asked to remove his goggles in one of the cinema in London’s Leicester Square. The staff there said that they asked the filmgoer to remove Google Glass as they were not in a position to monitor whether it was recording.
Google is none too pleased with the ban and has urged cinemas to treat Glass as they would treat a mobile phone – “simply ask wearers to turn it off before the film starts”.
Google recommends that policy makers should try out Glass first hand before they etch policies that govern the use of the eyewear at certain places. Mountain View argued that Google Glass is a very lousy recording device as its “screen lights up whenever it’s activated”.
This means that if a filmgoer is recording the movie in a cinema auditorium while the entire hall is dark, their Glass will be visible from far away and sticks out as a sore thumb. Further, the eyewear isn’t ideal for recording full length movies considering that when the device is being used constantly for that purpose, its battery dies out in just about 45 minutes.
[Source: The Independent]
