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Google Glass Faces A Ban In British Movie Theaters

Just one week after Google Glass went on sale in the U.K., fears of piracy have led to calls to ban the eyewear from being worn in movie theaters.

Criticism of the Google device, which can allow those wearing it to record what they see, has come from the powerful Cinema Exhibitors' Association, which as the BBC reports "has no power to enforce a ban, but instead makes recommendations to most of the country's cinema industry."

From London, Ari Shapiro reports:

"Movie theater operators say they're concerned that people could use Google Glass to illegally record a film as it plays in the theater.

"Google argues that's unlikely. In a statement, the company said, 'The fact that Glass is worn above the eyes and the screen lights up whenever it's activated makes it a fairly lousy device for recording things secretly.'

"Although Google Glass has only just arrived in Britain, it has been available for a couple of years in the U.S. Some American movie theater chains have put similar bans in place."

Britain's The Independent reports that "one early adopter has already been asked to remove his headset at a Leicester Square cinema as staff could not monitor whether it was recording."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.