Google’s high-tech augmented reality “Project Glass” spectacles are still in development, and not available for purchase. But Seattle’s 5 Point Cafe is getting ahead of the game — and fueling a debate over privacy — by banning the devices from the bar in advance.
The 5 Point posted this message on its Facebook page this week: ”For the record, The 5 Point is the first Seattle business to ban in advance Google Glasses. And a** kickings will be encouraged for violators.”
Why is the 5 Point doing this?
“I’m a thought leader,” jokes Dave Meinert, owner of the 5 Point, speaking on the Luke Burbank Show at GeekWire news partner KIRO-FM Friday morning. “First you have to understand the culture of the 5 Point, which is a sometimes seedy, maybe notorious place. People want to go there and be not known ... and definitely don’t want to be secretly filmed or videotaped and immediately put on the Internet.”
He admits, “Part of this is a joke, to be funny on Facebook, and get reaction. But part of it’s serious, because we don’t let people film other people or take photos unwanted of people in the bar, because it is kind of a private place that people go.”
Meinert notes that the 5 Point is near Amazon, and acknowledges that “tech geeks” have been known to patronize the bar. “It’s OK if you wear them,” he says. “I just don’t want them worn inside.”
Presumably this rule would apply to Seattle’s notorious Creepy Cameraman, too.
Check out the original post on GeekWire for Luke Burbank’s full interview with Meinert. See KIRO Radio for more.
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