By Zanub Saeed
A man wearing an augmented reality headset was attacked at a McDonald's in Paris after employees were against his headgear and its ability to record images and videos, said Laptop magazine.
The man, University of Toronto Professor Steve Mann, claimed that employees at the McDonald's attacked him when he and his family visited the fast-food chain on July 1, and told him to remove the headset as photographs weren't allowed in the restaurant. Mann told the employees that it was not possible and that the headgear, called "EyeTap Digital Glass," said Laptop magazine on Thursday, as it was attached to his head.
"Perp. 1 reached his left hand out and pressed against the frame of my eyeglass, and swung his left hand around a few times pushing and pulling at it," Mann told Laptop magazine when the employees started to attack him to remove the head piece.
Mann said that he had a doctor's note in hand and showed it to the McDonald's employees notifying them that the head set was required for him. According to Mann, the employees tore up the doctor's note and other documentation the man had, and one of the employees, which he called Perpetrator 1, pushed him out of the door of the McDonald's and on the street, damaging his headgear, noted Laptop magazine.
"It merely delays rather than records, but when damaged (computer) the leftovers were recovered," he said. "In this sense Perp 1 was the person who took all the pictures in the last hour or so, by causing the computer to be broken."
"My Glass started acting a little erratic but I could still see to some degree, but with crosshatches and kind of a freeze-frame like motion as the Eye Glass stopped and started intermittently," Mann told Laptop magazine.
Mann said that after the attack he went to tell local police in Paris about the attack, but allegedly they had no interest in taking the investigation, said Laptop magazine. Through the headgear Mann is able to see and be online, but that started to shut down as the head set was broken in the fall.
"After first trying with the Police (no luck) and then the Consulate/Embassies (no luck), and then the legal experts and human rights commissioners (no luck), some of whom suggested "the court of public opinion," I finally brought this matter to the public's attention, but only after exhausting all other possibilities," Mann told Laptop magazine.
McDonald's responded to the allegation, saying: "We take the claims and feedback of our customers very seriously. We are in the process of gathering information about this situation and we ask for patience until all of the facts are known."
