Business Insider journalist Kyle Russell was reporting on a protest rally against a Google employee who purchased a building in San Francisco and evicted the tenants. The 20-year-old was wearing a Google Glass device during the march, and filed the report later in a coffee shop.
“After more than an hour spent working on the story in a coffee shop, I arranged my laptop, camera, and notes in my backpack. Mindlessly, I put on Google Glass instead of squeezing it in with the rest of my things,” he wrote in a post for Business Insider.
As Russell walked to the station with a colleague, a passer-by ran up to him and snatched the Glass off his face. The pair chased the man down the street but in the heat of the moment, the thief dropped and broke the gadget before running off.
Google Glass is wearable computer that looks like a pair of glasses. It has the same functionality as a smartphone, in that users are able to record video, text, make phone calls, take photos, browse the internet and interact on social media.
“I tweeted about what happened. Word got around quickly,” Russell wrote. “Initial reactions from friends on Twitter were very supportive — and then the trolls and anti-tech crowd showed up.”
Glass – and Google as a whole – has come to represent the gentrification of San Francisco. From the anti-Google protest march that Russell was covering, to his own Google Glass attack, tensions between the rich and poor are palpable.
“Unfortunately, anything associated with Google has come to represent gentrification in the city, from the buses that take young software engineers to their corporate campuses in Silicon Valley to Google Glass,” he wrote.
“This is especially true in areas where gentrification and income inequality have become points of conflict in the community.”
But it’s not the first time a Google Glass wearer has been attacked. In February, tech writer Sarah Slocum was verbally abused in a San Francisco bar for wearing the device before it was stolen.
With YouTube users like SurveillantCameraMan cropping up, it’s not hard to see why some feel Glass is a serious invasion of privacy. Based in Seattle, SurveillantCameraMan records strangers without their consent and then uploads the footage to YouTube. (To address these concerns, Google has created a page on how not to be a “Glasshole”)
“I can see why the person who smashed my Glass did what they did,” Russell wrote. “My love for gadgets makes me look and sound like one of the people whom residents of the city have come to feel oppressed by.”
What do you think of the recent spate of Google Glass attacks? Are you concerned about the possible invasion of privacy? Have you had, or seen, any “Glasshole” experiences?
