Google Glass-wearing woman claims attack at San Francisco bar

“A San Francisco woman says she was attacked at a bar after refusing to stop wearing Google Glass,” Jason Wells reports for The Los Angeles Times. “It all started out as a friendly exchange among lookie-loos at Molotov’s for tech writer Sarah Slocum, who posted about the alleged attack on her Facebook page. Patron’s were initially curious, asking for demonstrations of the computer-in-eyewear, which Google sees as a new way to effortlessly connect people with information.”

MacDailyNews Take: Then she explained to them what Glass does.

“As the night wore on at the Haight-Ashbury district bar, however, a group of patrons reportedly became upset about possibly being recorded by Slocum’s eyewear, CBS San Francisco reported,” Wells reports. “The confrontation reportedly became violent when a friend she was with responded to a critic by throwing a punch.”

MacDailyNews Take: There’s the answer to the cops’ first question, “Okay, who started it?”

Wells reports, “A man then ripped Slocum’s Google Glass off her face and attempted to flee, but she chased after him.”

Read more in the full article here.

“Brian Lester said he watched as a man insulted Slocum, then a man accompanying her retaliated with his fists,” Joe Vazquez reports for CBS San Francisco. “‘The crowd was jeering as any last call crowd would do with a fight outside of a bar,’ Lester said. ‘She was running around very excited … and people were telling her, ‘you’re being an *** take those glasses off.'”

MacDailyNews Take: There’s a time and place for everything. But not now.

“‘I think everybody was just upset that she would be recording outside of a bar this late with obvious embarrassing behavior going on,’ Lester added. ‘And just rather insulted that someone thinks it’s okay to record them the entire time they’re in public,'” Vazquez reports. “A man who only gave his first name of ‘Brian’ said he was not surprised. ‘You know, the crowd at Molotov’s is not a tech-oriented crowd for the most part,’ said Brian. ‘It’s probably one of the more punk rock bars in the city. So you know, it’s not really Google Glass country.’ Brian said it did not mean anybody should get physically attacked. ‘Of course not … But a level of tact in that type of establishment might have behooved her,’ Brian said.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Brian must have been the designated driver – and an English teacher. It’s rare that quotes from closing time rekindle our hopes for the future of America, but there you have it.

This bar would have benefitted from some PGM (Preemptive Glasshole Mitigation).

That this happened in tech-heavy San Francisco shows that it will happen anywhere (with likely even worse outcomes).

Moral of the story: Don’t be a Glasshole.

Related articles:
Scoble: Google Glass is doomed – January 2, 2014
One year wearing Google Glass: ‘Look at that asshole’ – December 31, 2013
Why an Apple iWatch has better chances than Google Glass – November 6, 2013
Apple’s Siri lambastes Google Glass – August 26, 2013
Google Glass ban list grows; top 10 places banning Google Glass – August 7, 2013