Alleged assault appears to have arisen from a desire to not be videotaped.

A woman says she was assaulted for wearing Google Glass at a San Francisco bar on Friday evening, the most recent in a chain of confrontations that belie the city’s longstanding reputation for tolerance.

On her Facebook page, Sarah Slocum, contributing editor at social news site Newsdad and resident of San Mateo, Calif., wrote that she was verbally and physically assaulted and robbed “as a result of some wanker Google Glass haters.” She claims one among her assailants, a guy, grabbed her Glass from her face and ran outside and that his friends stole her purse, wallet, and cellphone. She says she recovered her Glass but has not found her other possessions.

A San Francisco Police Department spokesman confirmed that a police report in regards to the incident have been filed and is under investigation. The girl got into an issue with three individuals, the spokesman said, adding “The argument was over the suspects’ belief that the girl was taping them without consent.”

At least one of the vital time throughout the altercation, Slocum was doing just that. In step with KPIX, Slocum said her Glass contains video of the guy she says tore the device from her head.

[Class warfare has erupted within the Bay Area. See Silicon Valley’s 1%: Stinginess Isn’t the Problem.]

In a Facebook post, Slocum said she began taping only after the confrontation began. “I wasn’t even videotaping until I felt threatened after the single girl rotated and gave me the bird for no reason,” she explained.

Glass doesn’t display a red light when it’s recording like some video devices, but Google says that cup was designed with explicit signals to show when video recording have been initiated (a gesture or a voice command) and when recording is active (an illuminated screen).

The police spokesman said he believes Slocum planned to produce some video to investigators. He said he didn’t know whether the investigators have received the video or were in a position to identify anyone inside the video.

Slocum didn’t immediately reply to a request for an interview.

The incident occurred at Molotov’s, a “dive bar” in San Francisco’s Lower Haight neighborhood, and several other people commenting on Slocum’s Facebook posts blame her for the assault or question her account of that evening’s events.

Marc Canter, a founding father of Macromedia and entrepreneur who left the Bay Area five years ago for Cleveland, said in a response to Slocum’s post, “Punk bars don’t seem to be for hipster babes to return in and showcase their geeky regardless of the hell. Have you ever no good judgment?”

Reached by phone, and asked how much Slocum ought to be blamed for the assault, Canter said, “It’s 100% her, dude,” explaining that she can have walked into any bar inside the Marina district without incident.

At another online discussion of the incident, one person said it was unacceptable guilty the victim. “Absent the bar owners telling her to knock it off, she has every legal right to film as little or much as she wants,” anyone posting as “The Colonel” wrote. “Kind of like anyone else in there with their phone. They won’t adore it, they’ll even ask the Molotov’s manager to invite her to forestall/leave, but none of that has ANYTHING to do with them beating and robbing her.”

Canter said people like Slocum wouldn’t have a clue what the tech industry has done to San Francisco, adding later, “i personally like her and she’s a pleasing person,” while he suggested Slocum was using the incident to enhance her social media brand.

“That’s all in regards to the frustration of no jobs and these rich kids coming in and raising prices,” Canter said. “It is not the San Francisco I remember… That isn’t to claim that the techies are personally responsible, but we’re talking about an ecosystem and the changing of the guard.”

Resentment over the diminishing supply of affordable housing within the San Francisco Bay Area, and over corporate buses using public transit accommodations without adequate compensation, has present itself in different class-oriented confrontations recently.

Twice in December, small groups of demonstrators staged protests at bus stops where Google’s coaches were picking up passengers, one in San Francisco and one in Oakland. Throughout the protest near the West Oakland BART Station, one of the crucial demonstrators broke a Google bus window and slashed its tires.

The following month, a bunch calling itself Counterforce protested in front of the Berkeley home of Google engineer Anthony Levandowski, who works on Google’s self-driving car project.

These incidents led Google to rent a ferry to hold commuting workers over water between Redwood City and San Francisco to catch a commuter bus that travels to the company’s Mountain View headquarters. The corporate has also hired security guards to offer protection to its employees.

Last week, Google issued guidelines for Google Glass wearers, advising them to not be a rude, creepy, or a “Glasshole.” And in step with Reuters, the corporate is lobbying in no less than three states against rules being considered in eight states that may prohibit using Google Glass while driving.

But Google has further work to do before Glass is universally accepted. Canter observed, “i’ve yet to determine what anyone does with Google Glass except surreptitiously videotaping people.”

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Thomas Claburn was writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications akin to New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and tv, having earned a not particularly useful … View Full Bio

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