Bars in San Francisco have started banning people from wearing hi-tech Google glasses in their establishments following a number of attacks on users.

The $1,500 devices allow people to browse the internet, record what they see and use voice commands to bring up information on a small glass screen, viewed in their peripheral vision.

However their appearance at several bars in San Francisco have led to the assault of several of their users by patrons who apparently thought they were being recorded without their consent, according to a report by The Telegraph,

In one incident in February, as reported by The Telegraph, technology writer Sarah Slocum was criticised in a bar for wearing the spectacles and turned on the recording device in an effort to diffuse the situation, but her actions had the opposite effect.

The glasses were taken off her face by a group, including one woman who can be heard telling Ms Slocum, “You are killing the city”.