Google Glasses banned by 5 Point Café in Seattle citing privacy concerns

Google Glasses are not even on the market yet but Seattle dive bar 5 Point Café has already banned them from its users ever stepping foot inside.

The 5 Point Café posted a sign for its patrons this week reading that “a** kickings will be encouraged for violators” of their new rule while mutually boasting of being the first establishment to ban them in the city.

Bar owner Dave Meinert says his decision is done half-jokingly for a reaction but half for privacy as well.

“Part of this is a joke, to be funny on Facebook, and get reaction,” Dave Meinert told KIRO-FM.

“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.”

The $1,500 eyeglasses set for release in 2014 are capable of recording videos and pictures that can be instantly saved and shared online.

A system called InSight also makes them capable of identifying people by their clothes, jewelery and other accessories after taking a series of pictures recorded for future recognition.

Responding to the ban in a statement to CNET, Google says it’s to be expected that some won’t be as ready for their product as others.

“It is still very early days for Glass, and we expect that as with other new technologies, such as cell phones, behaviors and social norms will develop over time,” they said.

Perhaps in disagreement, on Saturday The 5 Point compared Google’s device to fanny packs, bags once popular in the late 80s.

“…don’t buy into Googles <<sexy>> imaging promotion of their new Google Glasses,” The 5 Point wrote.

“They are really just the new fashion accessory for the fanny pack & never removed Bluetooth headset wearing set.”

The post includes a picture of an ordinary, every-day man wearing the glasses above a picture of a heavy-set man wearing a Bluetooth device on his ear.

Above it they write: “What they really look like and who will use them below.”

While the ban has received just over 300 “likes” on their Facebook page, the majority of more than 100 comments appear to criticize the bar’s stance while noting its absent ban on cell phones equipped with cameras.

“It’s OK if you wear them,” said Dave Meinert of the device while acknowledging the so-called “tech Geeks” who visit his bar from Amazon nearby.

“I just don’t want them worn inside.”

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