Calls in the UK to ban sex offenders from buying smart glasses
No more “pervert glasses” for perverts?
Mark Zuckerberg. Image by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
- UK Liberal Democrats want sex offenders banned from buying or tampering with smart glasses.
- The party says covert recording risks making women victims without their knowledge or consent.
- Courts, bars, and clubs have already restricted smart glasses over privacy concerns.
- Rape Crisis England & Wales says many offenders are unknown, making enforcement difficult.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The calls come amid growing concerns that smart glasses are being used to film women without their consent.
The UK’s Liberal Democratic Party has urged the government to ban sex offenders from purchasing and tampering with smart glasses, including Meta Ray-Bans.
Anna Sabine, a member of Parliament and Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport, told Metro that the government can’t credibly be committed to halving violence against women and girls while allowing people to “become unknowing victims of Spex Offenders.”
“Nobody should wake up to discover that a video of them has been filmed without their knowledge and shared with thousands or even millions of people online,” Sabine said.
Smart glasses have earned their derogatory term “pervert glasses” due to being increasingly used to covertly record women. Many of these videos then appear online, with their creators using filmed interactions to offer advice on how to pick up women.
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As a result, smart glasses and other wearable devices equipped with recording technology are no longer welcome in a growing number of businesses and institutions.
Smart glasses were banned from all judicial buildings in England and Wales, following a similar prohibition in all courts in New York State
Similar restrictions on “pervert glasses” were introduced across multiple UK venues, ranging from cheap bars to posh clubs.
The Norwegian government is also mulling a ban on the sale of smart glasses, while a consumer advocacy group has urged retailers to stop selling these wearables until legal uncertainty is resolved.
“Difficult to make it workable”
Like many other new technologies, smart glasses may be disproportionately harming women. However, it is unclear if preventing sex offenders from buying them would actually reduce gender-based violence.
Rape Crisis England & Wales, a Leeds-based non-profit organization, says efforts to ban sex offenders from purchasing such glasses are well-intentioned, but it will be very difficult to make it workable in practice.
“Most sex offenders aren’t known to the authorities, and won’t be on any kind of register. That’s a fact,” the organization’s LinkedIn post reads.