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INDUSTRY UK

UK cinemas ban Google Glass

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- Cinema Exhibitors’ Association advises members against wearable technology

UK cinemas ban Google Glass

Following the footsteps of several US cinemas, the UK’s Cinema Exhibitors' Association (CEA) has taken a stance against Google Glass. The CEA is cautious about the piracy aspects of ‘wearable technology’ as they term it.

The CEA said in a statement: “The policy is that customers are requested not to bring wearable technology capable of recording images into cinema auditorium, regardless of whether the film is playing or not.  This position is driven by concerns around customer privacy as well as film theft. While our position on mobile phones is that we ask people to put these away when the film is playing, with wearable technology – whether Google Glass or otherwise – we believe that it is generally more difficult to detect when they are and are not recording, so our approach is a precautionary one.” 

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Members of the public will see this message: “As a courtesy to your fellow audience members, and to prevent film theft, we ask that customers do not enter any cinema auditorium using any ‘wearable technology’ capable of recording images. Any customer found wearing such technology will be asked to remove it and may be asked to leave the cinema.” 

A beta version of Google Glass has recently become available in the UK for a hefty £1000 and is not yet a common sight unlike in the US, where besides cinemas, restaurants and casinos have also disallowed the product. 

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