Meta smart glasses could be banned in Germany, regulator warns
Could this lead to an EU-wide ban?
Mark Zuckerberg by Getty/Bloomberg.
- European privacy watchdogs are investigating smart glasses over concerns they enable hidden recording without consent.
- Germany, France, and the Netherlands have raised concerns about whether people can tell when smart glasses are filming.
- A European Data Protection Board report on smart glasses risks is expected by the end of summer.
- The debate matters because millions of devices are already in use, creating wider privacy and data protection risks.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
European privacy watchdogs are currently assessing the risks smart glasses pose as controversy surrounding the tech grows.
Meta smart glasses, and smart glasses in general, are being investigated by privacy watchdogs in Germany, France, and the Netherlands as government officials question the legality of these devices.
Thomas Fuchs, Hamburg’s commissioner for data protection and freedom of information, warned in an interview with German broadcaster ADR that smart glasses are essentially disguised cameras that could possibly be banned under German law.
Meta’s main corporate offices in Germany are located in Hamburg.
Germany’s privacy law states that it's illegal to “possess, manufacture, make available on the market, import…telecommunications equipment which by its form resembles another object.”
Cameras may also not be hidden or disguised as an everyday object as it could be used to listen in on people’s private conversations and could also be used to record people without their consent.
The European Data Protection Board is currently in the process of investigating the risks of smart glasses and a report is due to be released by the end of summer, according to Euractiv.
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However, Germany’s data protection authority wasn’t the first to sound the alarm on smart glasses.
France’s privacy watchdog echoed concerns about smart glasses, saying that unlike smartphones, smart glasses make it harder to understand whether you’re being filmed against your knowledge.
Dutch privacy groups share the same concerns that the almost invisible camera integration allows people to be recorded without their consent, according to Dutch media outlet NOS.
The devices, made popular by Mark Zuckerberg’s big tech company Meta, have been dragged through the mud, with people calling them stalker glasses.
Users have even reported ditching Meta smart glasses over fears of being called a pervert while others have recommended crazy solutions to avoid being filmed by AI glasses.
Last year, 7 million pairs of Meta smart glasses were sold, and the rapidly adopted tech was being used to exploit women, raising privacy and data protection concerns.
Furthermore, the footage that was recorded by Meta’s AI smart glasses was reportedly sent to contractors in Nairobi, Kenya, to be checked and labeled to then be used for training Meta’s AI models.
What the contractors were subjected to was hours of highly sensitive, intimate content, including the broadcast of personal information like bank details, people using the bathroom, getting undressed, and engaging in sexual activity, according to Svenska Dagbladet.
