UofT prof gets roughed up at Paris McDonalds for using vision technology

[GangStarr]

I tried searching and didn't see a thread on this.

Quick summary is U of T prof and father of the "Wearable computer" Steve "Cyborg" Mann gets roughed up at the McDonalds on Champs Elysees in Paris for wearing his wearable computer vision assistance system, the eye glass. Technology that he invented and has a doctors note for. Apparently he has been wearing this for 34 years and didn't have any problems at various museums he visited, but the McDonalds wasn't too happy about him having it. They questioned him, tried to forcefully remove it (it requires tools to remove) and to top it off, ripped up his doctors note.

Luckily for the prof he has some nice incriminating pictures and has posted on his blog. It's a bit of a read but pretty cool technology mixed with some over zealous fast food employees.

We are truly moving to a world where unless your in a bathroom, you better assume someone is recording you or photographing you in public places, to top it off in pretty decent quality.

I can understand a restaurants request to not have recording devices, but physically touching customers (that are there with kids and wife) and then ripping up documentation... geez, I hope the French police actually do something about this.

McDonalds PR.... ready...set...go

http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/ ( I am not connected with the blog in any way)
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1228500--toronto-cyborg-steve-mann-says-he-was-assaulted-in-paris-mcdonald-s

http://i.thestar.com/images/e7/f1/aaf4a30346fdad85509f4aa3da04.jpg

[arclite]

Those employees won't be working in fast-food for a long time.

[Corleone187]

He probably just freaked them out and they didn't know what kind of stunt he was trying to pull lol

I mean looking at his pic it's not exactly discrete and he looks like a psycho unlike these Google ones :lol:

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Media/Pix/gallery/2012/4/5/1333645176348/Google-Project-Glass-mode-008.jpg

[mysticalinfluence]

Looks like he took Neal Stephenson Snow Crash gargoyle concept literally.

[aTriangle]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Wearcompevolution.jpg/640px-Wearcompevolution.jpg

[Corleone187]

ok so if he has those papers on him obviously there has been trouble in the past which is why he carries them.

Now if you look at the 1st pic what is the 1st thing that comes to your mind? The 1st thing that comes to my mind is that he has a deadly laser-beam eye :lol:

[Ogata]

I don't get it..what does he need these glasses for and why does he have a doctor's note for it?

[ovechkin1]

I don't get it..what does he need these glasses for and why does he have a doctor's note for it?
so he can tape little kids and wack off to them later, seriously its not right to be taped without your authorization, the employees did a good thing here.

[nauru]

How does he expect anyone to help him if he blocks out the perps' faces on his website?

[Simaahoy]

I don't get it..what does he need these glasses for and why does he have a doctor's note for it?

I also don't understand why Mcd kick him out?

[wilsonlam97]

I never liked the french... lol

[av3n]

We ordered two Ranch Wraps, one burger, and one mango McFlurry, from a cashier who I will refer to as "Possible Witness 2". My daughter handled the cash to pay Possible Witness 2, as my daughter wanted to practice her French. Possible Witness 2 complimented my daughter on her fluency in French.
Next my family and I seated ourselves in the restaurant right by the entrance, so we could watch people walking along Avenue Champs Elysees while we ate our meal.

Subsequently another person within McDonalds physically assaulted me, while I was in McDonand's, eating my McDonand's Ranch Wrap that I had just purchased at this McDonald's. He angrily grabbed my eyeglass, and tried to pull it off my head. The eyeglass is permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools.


Something must have happened between the time when he and his family sat down to eat to when he just gets suddenly assaulted, I feel like we're not getting the whole story here. I'd like to hear McDonald's side of the story and what they have to say...

[GangStarr]

ok so if he has those papers on him obviously there has been trouble in the past which is why he carries them.

Now if you look at the 1st pic what is the 1st thing that comes to your mind? The 1st thing that comes to my mind is that he has a deadly laser-beam eye :lol:

Yep according to the CBC he has had trouble in the past.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/07/17/tech-mann-digital-eye-glass-assault.html
Mann was involved in a similar incident in 2002 when he was detained by security personnel at St. John's International Airport and reportedly had some of the implants and hardware he wears to enhance his memory and vision and otherwise monitor and enhance his experiences removed.





I don't get it..what does he need these glasses for and why does he have a doctor's note for it?

The article fails to mention what specific reason he has to wear it, however if a doctor in Canada says thats what he needs, we don't really have any business asking what specific medical condition it might be. I see handicap people park in handicap spaces that seem to be able to walk, do I really have the right to know what caused them to have this pass (assuming it's not misuse of the pass or they arn't transporting a handicap person?).

Although a part of me suspects he is just testing technology he is developing, otherwise he would probably state he has x eye problem. He does research for the CNIB, so I don't think he's just in it for the 24/7 video recording (which btw is generally legal outside of bathrooms/changerooms in public)

The real question is, should Joe Blow in a McDonalds issued dress shirt and tie be able to be this aggressive over a matter like this? The pictures don't prove much aside from an employee ripping up something, but in a typical "please leave" situation why would employees be ripping anything?

[wilsonlam97]

We ordered two Ranch Wraps, one burger, and one mango McFlurry, from a cashier who I will refer to as "Possible Witness 2". My daughter handled the cash to pay Possible Witness 2, as my daughter wanted to practice her French. Possible Witness 2 complimented my daughter on her fluency in French.
Next my family and I seated ourselves in the restaurant right by the entrance, so we could watch people walking along Avenue Champs Elysees while we ate our meal.

Subsequently another person within McDonalds physically assaulted me, while I was in McDonand's, eating my McDonand's Ranch Wrap that I had just purchased at this McDonald's. He angrily grabbed my eyeglass, and tried to pull it off my head. The eyeglass is permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools.

Is it just me or does that sound painful?

[akira1971]

It sounds like it was staged by the inventor to generate publicity. On his blog, Perp 1 and Perp 2 don't even look like McD employees - seriously, what employee is allowed to wear ripped jeans?? Perp 3, the guy with the "broom and dustpan", isn't wearing the same Mcdonald's uniform as all the other employees. Regardless, the only identifiable McDonald's employee (Perp 3) doesn't actually do anything other than stand around.

Plus, the inventor's explanation why the events were recorded doesn't fly:

The computerized eyeglass processes imagery using Augmediated Reality, in order to help the wearer see better, and when the computer is damaged, e.g. by falling and hitting the ground (or by a physical assault), buffered pictures for processing remain in its memory, and are not overwritten with new ones by the then non-functioning computer vision system.

As a result of Perpetrator 1's actions, therefore images that would not have otherwise been captured were captured. Therefore by damaging the Eye Glass, Perpetrator 1 photographed himself and others within McDonalds.

No way would the device be so fragile that it breaks down just after getting push out of the restaurant - his whole day, he probably experienced more jolting activities than this eg. constant walking motion, bumping in crowded tourist attractions, riding a bus/taxi, etc. But somehow it conveniently breaks down at the right time so that records the "incident" instead of being overwritten. His memory buffer excuse doesn't make sense either - it recorded at least 10 minutes of the "incident", but for that to happen, the buffer size has to contain about 18,000 images (10 minutes x 60 seconds x 30fps). For a device that's only useful in real time to "help the wearer see better", it doesn't make sense to have so many images stored in the buffer, unless the inventor did stage the incident and wanted to intentionally record it.

[vero95]

if the guy had a camera that sees through your clothes (like the ones at the airport), would you be offended?

[flashy_mcflash]

I remember this guy from my days at U of T and had some friends that 'worked' for him. Apparently he had a townhouse across from the AGO and his TA's would do his laundry and all sorts of menial tasks. Almost came off a bit cultlike.

I had no idea that camera was permanently attached to him though - he seems to have done some upgrades since I was there. Definitely a very eccentric but very smart guy, and no one deserves this kind of abuse.

[flashy_mcflash]

if the guy had a camera that sees through your clothes (like the ones at the airport), would you be offended?

He doesn't and why would you derail the thread with a pointless hypothetical?

[168]

if the guy had a camera that sees through your clothes (like the ones at the airport), would you be offended?

What if, instead of taking pictures, the camera was an frying pan that dispensed free bacon?

[ji2o0k]

fricking lassseeeerrssssssssss..........that is awesome!


He does look like a cyborg freak though....now if a girl was wearing the eyeglasses like the one posted in this thread, I wouldn't mind...


If he was smart, he would get this wearable eyeglass thingy to work with porn.....can you imagine 3-D porn on those glasses with heightened sensory input? Daaayuuuummmmmmmmm............he will be a gagillionaire fo sho!

[Psubs]

What if, instead of taking pictures, the camera was an frying pan that dispensed free bacon?

He should be at the CNE!!!

[vero95]

He doesn't and why would you derail the thread with a pointless hypothetical?

because you say he doesn't :facepalm:
people are not used to stuff like that and can suspect anything

[flashy_mcflash]

because you say he doesn't :facepalm:
people are not used to stuff like that and can suspect anything

You think someone could have one of those airport scanners strapped to his face? Okay buddy. Are you also scared of werewolves?

[vero95]

What if, instead of taking pictures, the camera was an frying pan that dispensed free bacon?

I think it would burn your eyes, no? is it what you are working on?

[jacobe]

... Definitely a very eccentric but very smart guy...

No kidding. Some day this technology is going to take off.

[vero95]

You think someone could have one of those airport scanners strapped to his face? Okay buddy. Are you also scared of werewolves?

hard to argue with a dude not aware of the current state of technology and innovation

[flashy_mcflash]

hard to argue with a dude not aware of the current state of technology and innovation

LOL and you are? You're still working on figuring out Google Maps.

[longitude]

comment from the star article:



Provocation

It's just incredibly rude to stick a camera in someone's face without asking permission.

Not surprised that in an equally rude aggressive city like Paris that some one would stand up to this provocation.

[vero95]

LOL and you are? You're still working on figuring out Google Maps.

I bet you were the TA who was doing laundry for the guy

[stealth]

because you say he doesn't :facepalm:
people are not used to stuff like that and can suspect anything

then they should call the Police.
he doesnt seem to have prsented any imminent danger to staff or patrons, and I would be interested in McDonalds explanation of how they feel that the guy who sweeps up with a broom is qualified to handle store security, and if their staff is acting appropriately why they are covering their badges?

All that said, this guy is peculiar ansd it does feel like parts of the story have been omitted.

[stealth]

quote from the star:

Thats idiotic...Ive been to Paris and encountered no more rude people than I do in toronto in a similar timeframe...fewer actually, in spite of having a significant language barrier over there.

[longitude]

The Star are idiotic...Ive been to Paris and encountered no more rude people than I do in toronto in a similar timeframe...fewer actually, in spite of having a significant language barrier over there.

sorry, actually that was a comment by a reader......

[stealth]

thanks, post editted

[kocoman]

How can the battery last all day? What professor field is he teaching?

[flashy_mcflash]

How can the battery last all day? What professor field is he teaching?

I believe it was some offshoot of computer engineering.

e: yep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann


Many of Mann's inventions pertain to the field of computational photography.
Chirplet transform, 1991: Mann was the first to propose and reduce to practice a signal representation based on a family of chirp signals, each associated with a coefficient, in a generalization of the wavelet transform that is now referred to as the chirplet transform.

Video Orbits, 1993: Mann was the first to produce an algorithm for automatically combining multiple pictures of the same subject matter, using algebraic projective geometry, to "stitch together" images using automatically estimated perspective correction. This is called the "Video Orbits" algorithm.[5] See also patent US 5828793, Method and apparatus for producing digital images having extended dynamic ranges.[6]

Comparametric Equations, 1993: Mann was the first to propose and implement an algorithm to estimate a camera's response function from a plurality of differently exposed images of the same subject matter. He was also the first to propose and implement an algorithm to automatically extend dynamic range in an image by combining multiple differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter.[7] See also patent US 5706416, Method and apparatus for relating and combining multiple images of the same scene or object(s).[8]

Inverse kinematics, e.g. principles of negative derivatives (integrals) of displacement, such as absement (the area under the displacement-time curve), as embodied by hydraulophones (water-based instruments).[9] This work has been built-upon by others, and also forms the basis for a new way of understanding electrical engineering, based on using the electrical analog of absement as the base unit.[10]

Hydraulophone: Mann invented an experimental musical instrument that uses pressurized hydraulic fluid, such as water, to make sound. The instrument is played by placing the fingers in direct contact with the sound-producing hydraulic fluid, thus giving the musician a high degree of control over the musical expression in the sound.[11]

Telepointer, a wearable computer based on a pendant that contains a webcam and laser-based infinite depth-of-focus projector.


I remember he had the Hydraulaphone on display at the first Nuit Blanche. Got to play 'In Da Gadda Da Vida' on it, haha.

I'm pretty sure his Video Orbit tech was what that scene in the Matrix was based on, where they pan around a scene while it's held in stasis.

[Kunman]

From Wikipedia

He also claims that his iPhone and the control board for the EyeTap were damaged after he was thrown out and his bladder released involuntarily, soaking the contents of his pockets.[26] Currently, McDonalds is still investigating this issue, according to their official statement.

Now this is funnnaaay

[vero95]

there must be more to this story and I bet they are not telling everything
I wonder how the dude manages using public washrooms or other places where taking pics is not allowed

[flashy_mcflash]

there must be more to this story and I bet they are not telling everything
I wonder how the dude manages using public washrooms or other places where taking pics is not allowed

Maybe by, I don't know, not taking pictures in washrooms and other places? Can you take a smartphone into a bathroom? Because this might surprise you, given your advanced knowledge of technology, but those are cameras too.

[ji2o0k]

From Wikipedia

He also claims that his iPhone and the control board for the EyeTap were damaged after he was thrown out and his bladder released involuntarily, soaking the contents of his pockets.[26] Currently, McDonalds is still investigating this issue, according to their official statement.

Now this is funnnaaayI get that with gas and involuntary release when I have Taco Bell.......and involuntary runs as well...

[vero95]

Maybe by, I don't know, not taking pictures in washrooms and other places? Can you take a smartphone into a bathroom? Because this might surprise you, given your advanced knowledge of technology, but those are cameras too.

next time before you go to a public washroom attach your smartphone in front of you. then see what happens

[flashy_mcflash]

next time before you go to a public washroom attach your smartphone in front of you. then see what happens

I have my smartphone out all the time. You would have no idea if I were taking pictures or not. Nothing, so far, has happened.

[vero95]

I have my smartphone out all the time. You would have no idea if I were taking pictures or not. Nothing, so far, has happened.

are you making an impression that you could be taking pics any time?
try that and then come back to this thread ;)

[Purgatory]

When I saw the picture it is obvious that it looks like a camera. I guess some people get intimidated with the thought they are being actively filmed constantly. It still doesn't warrant their behavior of attacking the man and trying to rip it off of his face.

He should try to get it designed a bit differently to make it look more sleek and modern. Either way, looks cool to me. He looks like a robot :)

[flashy_mcflash]

are you making an impression that you could be taking pics any time?
try that and then come back to this thread ;)

Was Mann doing that? It sounds like he was ordering a hamburger, not making clicky clicky noises and asking people to pose.

In an age where most people have smartphones, you kind of have to get over the fact that you might be on camera at almost any time of day when you're in a public place. Even still, no excuse whatsoever to assault someone.

[vero95]

When I saw the picture it is obvious that it looks like a camera. I guess some people get intimidated with the thought they are being actively filmed constantly. It still doesn't warrant their behavior of attacking the man and trying to rip it off of his face.

He should try to get it designed a bit differently to make it look more sleek and modern. Either way, looks cool to me. He looks like a robot :)

no, it does not. in France, people may be more offended though or be more sensitive to defend their privacy
people often take justice in their hands instead of relying on police. it's not unusual

[vero95]

Was Mann doing that? It sounds like he was ordering a hamburger, not making clicky clicky noises and asking people to pose.

In an age where most people have smartphones, you kind of have to get over the fact that you might be on camera at almost any time of day when you're in a public place. Even still, no excuse whatsoever to assault someone.

leave those excuses to the judge ;)

[flashy_mcflash]

leave those excuses to the judge ;)

Yup

[wilsonlam97]

no, it does not. in France, people may be more offended though or be more sensitive to defend their privacy
people often take justice in their hands instead of relying on police. it's not unusual

In Canada we call that a p***y.

[Simaahoy]

McDonald’s denies Toronto cyborg Steve Mann altercation

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/McDonald+denies+Toronto+cyborg+Steve+Mann+altercat ion/6959834/story.html

Story seems made up since the beginning

[vero95]

McDonald’s denies Toronto cyborg Steve Mann altercation

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/McDonald+denies+Toronto+cyborg+Steve+Mann+altercat ion/6959834/story.html

Story seems made up since the beginning

sounds like he needed more media attention. now it's international news

[sylpherware]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Wearcompevolution.jpg/640px-Wearcompevolution.jpg

This guy dresses up like a freak and still manages to find a wife. He must have a huge p...ersonality.
Got balls, that's for sure.

[toalan]

I had him as a prof, he is a strange nut with or without his gear on. Even without the gear, I think they would have thrown him out

[t3359]

This guy dresses up like a freak and still manages to find a wife. He must have a huge p...ersonality.
Got balls, that's for sure.

Maybe he's made some robotic enhancements to his p...ersonality as well.

bjl

[Mysticdragon]

next time before you go to a public washroom attach your smartphone in front of you. then see what happens
I have my G.Nexus out and texting or something almost every time I enter a bathroom. The shutter on that camera is so fast i could be spamming the button taking pics easily. They may be slightly blurry though. It's not like we have to stop, pose, focus, then take the picture.

[stealth]

This guy dresses up like a freak and still manages to find a wife. He must have a huge p...ersonality.
Got balls, that's for sure.

Ive never seen her, but I know theres no shortage of unattractive, single women with lowered expectations looking to get married.
So, hope for RFD'ers! ;)

[sylpherware]

Ive never seen her, but I know theres no shortage of unattractive, single women with lowered expectations looking to get married.
So, hope for RFD'ers! ;)

This is probably her chewing through a McGriddle
http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/8/8c/Seven_of_Nine_samples_Kelaran_wildebeest.jpg

[vero95]

I have my G.Nexus out and texting or something almost every time I enter a bathroom. The shutter on that camera is so fast i could be spamming the button taking pics easily. They may be slightly blurry though. It's not like we have to stop, pose, focus, then take the picture.

so what? it's like saying speeding is safe because I always speed and have never got caught
kids are expelled from school by taking pics in the hall. it happened to one at my son's school

[sylpherware]

are you making an impression that you could be taking pics any time?
try that and then come back to this thread ;)

In Canada, it's perfectly legal to take pictures in public, whether people like it or not.

If you threaten to or kick anybody's ***** for taking a picture of you in public, you get a visit from your favorite "po-po". ;)

[vero95]

In Canada, it's perfectly legal to take pictures in public, whether people like it or not.

If you threaten to or kick anybody's ***** for taking a picture of you in public, you get a visit from your favorite "po-po". ;)

OK, try taking pics in public washroom

[flashy_mcflash]

Steve Mann was not in a public washroom. What exactly are you trying to prove here with your bizarre hypothetical?

Also this:



I have my G.Nexus out and texting or something almost every time I enter a bathroom. The shutter on that camera is so fast i could be spamming the button taking pics easily. They may be slightly blurry though. It's not like we have to stop, pose, focus, then take the picture.

Vero, do you think that cameras still look like this?

http://i.imgur.com/QPYYr.jpg

[vero95]

Steve Mann was not in a public washroom. What exactly are you trying to prove here with your bizarre hypothetical?

Also this:




Vero, do you think that cameras still look like this?

http://i.imgur.com/QPYYr.jpg

no, he wasn't but we were talking about privacy in Canada
he was in France where privacy laws are different and more strict. google it and maybe you will not look so dumb next time

[flashy_mcflash]

Privacy laws are not effectively any different and they have the same camera technology there as here. Even in France, the cameras don't look like that. You'll just have to take my word for it.

[konfusion666]

This guy dresses up like a freak and still manages to find a wife. He must have a huge p...ersonality.
Got balls, that's for sure.


I had him as a prof, he is a strange nut with or without his gear on. Even without the gear, I think they would have thrown him out

I wrote a paper on wearable computing (and Mann too, since he was one of the key figures) in 2nd year Uni... more than 10 years ago

I thought he was a weirdo back then. My feelings have not changed. :D

[vero95]

Privacy laws are not effectively any different and they have the same camera technology there as here. Even in France, the cameras don't look like that. You'll just have to take my word for it.

you should seriously google it
rules are not the same in France

[flashy_mcflash]

I don't see anything that prohibits what Mann was doing (which is ordering a hamburger and having a camera on him that he wasn't using).

[vero95]

I don't see anything that prohibits what Mann was doing (which is ordering a hamburger and having a camera on him that he wasn't using).

right, because it wasn't making clicking sound
:facepalm:
if you go to another country, you can't expect people to behave and react the same as if you were at home
it's called respecting those people

[flashy_mcflash]

You have no evidence he was using the camera before he was attacked, not that a lack of evidence ever stopped you from trolling.

[vero95]

You have no evidence he was using the camera before he was attacked, not that a lack of evidence ever stopped you from trolling.

dude, I am explaining to you why that person reacted the way he did
I am not saying it was right. I am not saying the guy was taking pics or not. what I am saying is in France people are more sensitive to privacy and rules are more strict

[manmanny]

This guy dresses up like a freak and still manages to find a wife. He must have a huge p...ersonality.
Got balls, that's for sure.

talk about freaks so sorry couldn't resist...
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/us-man-huge-penis-stopped-airport-181309063.html

eight inches long when he was only 10 years old.

[manmanny]

It sounds like it was staged by the inventor to generate publicity. On his blog, Perp 1 and Perp 2 don't even look like McD employees - seriously, what employee is allowed to wear ripped jeans?? Perp 3, the guy with the "broom and dustpan", isn't wearing the same Mcdonald's uniform as all the other employees. Regardless, the only identifiable McDonald's employee (Perp 3) doesn't actually do anything other than stand around.

Plus, the inventor's explanation why the events were recorded doesn't fly:


No way would the device be so fragile that it breaks down just after getting push out of the restaurant - his whole day, he probably experienced more jolting activities than this eg. constant walking motion, bumping in crowded tourist attractions, riding a bus/taxi, etc. But somehow it conveniently breaks down at the right time so that records the "incident" instead of being overwritten. His memory buffer excuse doesn't make sense either - it recorded at least 10 minutes of the "incident", but for that to happen, the buffer size has to contain about 18,000 images (10 minutes x 60 seconds x 30fps). For a device that's only useful in real time to "help the wearer see better", it doesn't make sense to have so many images stored in the buffer, unless the inventor did stage the incident and wanted to intentionally record it.

Somehow that may be true. By posting perp pics he was making the same privacy issues important as the perps were saying?
They did not want their photos taken and he succeeded in blogging about it and posting them.
Did Star came up with this news or as usual they read blogs first and follow up on the story.

[flashy_mcflash]

dude, I am explaining to you why that person reacted the way he did
I am not saying it was right. I am not saying the guy was taking pics or not. what I am saying is in France people are more sensitive to privacy and rules are more strict

Well thanks for that point, I guess, meaningless and irrelevant as it may be.

[vero95]

Well thanks for that point, I guess, meaningless and irrelevant as it may be.

I am not posting for you only, no?


The employee and his coworkers were apparently trying to enforce that particular restaurants’ strict no-photo policy and were concerned that Mann’s headset was shooting pictures or video.
http://blog.laptopmag.com/cyborg-steve-mann-posts-photo-of-mcdonalds-employee-grabbing-his-glasses

[felixdd]

I wonder whether he actually had a run in with the Parisian police force in civilian guise or other, perhaps more secretive, branches of security service. That would explain the strangeness of the whole situation, and why no one is owning up to it at all?