Why I'll never be convinced by Meta's ‘pervert’ glasses | Opinion
Privacy advocates and activist groups are pushing back against Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, which can record video without obvious visual cues to bystanders. Over 20,000 people have signed onto a campaign invoking data protection law to legally object to being filmed, and some countries including Germany are reportedly weighing a ban.
Why this matters: The problem with these glasses is simple: you cannot tell when someone is recording you. That breaks a basic social contract. In public you expect cameras to be visible. These blend in by design. Consent goes out the window, and the person filmed has no practical way to object in the moment. The 20,000-person campaign is interesting because it tries to use existing data protection law as a tool — turning an individual right into collective pressure. Whether that legal path holds up matters. If it does not, the default becomes that anyone near these glasses can be filmed, stored, and processed, with no real recourse.
Who should care: Lawyers · Compliance · General readers · Privacy officers · Policy
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