U.S. Driver Acquitted Over Google Glass Ticket

@AFP
U.S. Driver Acquitted Over Google Glass Ticket

Los Angeles (AFP) – A U.S. woman thought to be the first person to get a traffic ticket for wearing Google Glass was found not guilty.

Cecilia Abadie was acquitted after San Diego Commissioner John Blair found she was not actively using the Google glass device when she was stopped.

A speeding ticket was dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The speeding ticket alleged that she was driving at 80 miles per hour in a 65 mile-per-hour zone.

The 44-year-old was charged with speeding and distracted driving on a San Diego area freeway on October 29. She acknowledged she was wearing the hi-tech eye-wear but said it was not turned on at the time.

Her lawyer William Concidine appeared in court in December to deny the charges, saying at the time that there was “nothing illegal about simply wearing the Google Glass while it is not turned on.”

After Thursday’s verdict, he said the acquittal showed that police must prove a Google Glass wearer was actually using the device while driving, just as they must show that a cellphone user was calling or texting, to secure a conviction.

“That’s something that can be relied on by drivers,” he said. “You won’t get ticketed for just wearing Google Glass or just having a phone in your car. There’s still some protection against being cited unjustly and unlawfully.”

He told AFP there were lessons to be learned from the case.

“If you believe in yourself (like Ms. Abadie) and you do not believe you committed an offense, you should contest it,” he told AFP.

In addition,

Google Glass lets wearers take pictures, record video, send messages or perform other tasks with touch controls or by speaking commands. It connects to the Internet using Wi-Fi hot spots or being wirelessly tethered to mobile phones.

Facebook, Twitter and major news organizations have already tailored applications for Google Glass, which has only been made available to developers and a limited selection of “explorers” who paid $1,500 each for the eyewear.

Envisioned uses range from practical tasks such as shopping or delivering local weather reports to sharing real time video streams or playing augmented reality games in which the world is the board.

Google has not announced a public release date for Google Glass but speculation centers around early 2014.

Photo: Justin Sullivan via AFP

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

How A Stuttering President Confronts A Right-Wing Bully

Donald Trump mocks Joe Biden’s stutter,” the headlines blare, and I am confronted (again) with (more) proof that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee hates people like me.

Keep reading...Show less
Trump at Trump Tower

Former President Donald Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to post a bond to cover a $454 million civil fraud judgment or face the risk of New York state seizing some of his marquee properties.Trump, seeking to regain the presidency this year, must either pay the money out of his own pocket or post a bond while he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron's February 16 judgment against him for manipulating his net worth and his family real estate company's property values to dupe lenders and insurers.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}