Pirates support the advent of 'Glass'

Walk down any street and you are likely to see packs of pedestrians glued to smartphone screens. Sit down at any restaurant and you are likely to see droves of diners sacrificing interaction with their neighbors to focus on their smartphones. Nowadays, you would think carrying a smartphone is as essential as wearing a shirt and a pair of pants. In fact, this level of attachment may necessitate an invention that allows people to wear their smartphones as accessories.

Luckily, Google is already on this road of innovation. Almost a year ago, developers at Google revealed the Google Glass, a futuristic pair of glasses that has many of the features and capabilities of a smartphone. Users wear the Google Glass just as they would a pair of prescription eyeglasses. Using the controls on the sides of the Google Glass, wearers can project a virtual screen in front of their eyes and perform many smartphone-related tasks, such as checking the weather and replying to emails. Among the Google Glass’s smartphone features is a 720p HD camera, which allows Google Glass users to take high-quality photos and videos. While this could be a useful tool in daily life, this camera reveals some legal issues that the Google Glass may create: For example, some malicious moviegoers could use the Google Glass’s video-recording capabilities for illegally recording and subsequently pirating movies.

On January 18, an unnamed Google Glass user visited an AMC movie theatre in a Columbus, Ohio mall to watch the film Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit with his wife. Although the man regularly attends movies, this particular experience was unforgettable. In an interview conducted by The Gadgeteer, the man recalls that, about an hour into the film, a security officer came up to his seat, yanked the Google Glass off of his face, and brought him outside the theatre. Once outside, the Google Glass user was promptly greeted by a mob of cops accusing him of illegally taping the film.

After repeatedly insisting that he had turned his Google Glass off before the film started, and thus was not illegally taping the film, the man was searched. His mobile phone was confiscated. The man and his wife were taken into two separate rooms of the management office in the Columbus mall. The man was grilled by the federal service about his personal life and his motives for recording the film. After three and a half hours of threats and forceful interrogation, an FBI officer finally connected the man’s Google Glass to a laptop, only to find nothing from the time period they accused the man of recording. For this entire disturbance, the only compensation the man received was two free movie passes from the Motion Picture Association of America so he and his wife could see the movie again.

Although this particular moviegoer did not use his Google Glass to record the movie, this anecdote reveals how the Google Glass could be used for pirating purposes. Perhaps this indicates that the relationship between security and technology needs to be remodeled.  At the moment, most movie pirates bring camouflaged handheld cameras into movie theatres. What an advance it is, then, to have the ultimate camera camouflage of a pair of glasses. Once Google Glass is released to the public later this year, the possible proliferation of illegally recording films with Google Glass poses a major security threat to movie theatres nationwide, as film pirating is considered a serious copyright infringement issue dealt with by the Department of Homeland Security.

However, as newfangled technological devices become more advanced and widespread, security forces cannot possibly confiscate every device they see simply because such devices have the potential to be used for malicious means. Security forces simply have neither the time nor the resources to question and investigate every user and device that enters a movie theatre. Imagine if, during a movie, security officers stormed into a theatre and demanded that everyone with an iPhone to be interrogated and their phones to be searched for evidence of recording the movie simply because iPhones possess video-recording capabilities and thus have the potential to be used as illegal pirating devices. If such rampant raids did take place, they would not only be a gross intrusion of privacy but also a violation of Fourth Amendment rights.

There is no doubt that new technological gadgets make people’s lives more convenient, efficient and fun. However, as technological innovation progresses through the 21st century, we must ensure our security remains in step. Particularly, I think we should ask ourselves the following question: How should we prevent criminals from using technological devices to achieve unlawful purposes while still allowing people to fully utilize and enjoy the capabilities of new technology?