A growing number of bars, restaurants and other entertainment venues across the UK are banning patrons from wearing smart glasses, like the Meta Ray-Bans, on well-justified privacy grounds.
The specs contain cameras that enable wearers to capture pictures and video. The potentially serendipitous nature of the recordings has seen the products labelled “pervert glasses”. And at the very least it throws up issues of consent.
That’s what the establishments saying “no” to the tech is concerned with – the idea that you shouldn’t randomly be filming people when they’re out having a nice time. You wouldn’t do it with your phone so why do it at all, right?
Tim Martin, the head of the pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon is not allowing patrons into the pubs wearing the glasses. He says: “The general code that applies in our pubs, and most pubs, is that you can’t film customers or employees without their permission. Meta glasses seem to breach this code, and common sense, by enabling surreptitious surveillance, so our instinct is to say turn off the cameras. This is akin to our efforts to stop audible playing of videos in our pubs, which also invades people’s space.”
One of the UK’s biggest theatre chains ATG Theatres also confirmed to the Guardian that anyone in the audience spotted wearing the specs will be asked to remove them. Again, you can’t do it with your phone ,so why would you do it with glasses?
The paper also reports that a number of private members clubs in London are also banning them. And you can understand why. I’d imagine all manner of backdoor shenanigans and untoward activities go down in those places. Can’t have serendipitous recording happening and upsetting that apple cart, can we?
The tide, it seems has turned again. When Google Glass first arrived more than a decade ago, they were shunned. Second time around, it seemed people were finally becoming ok with the idea of an eye-line camera. Now that seems like a short-lived reprieve.
Even Instagram, owned by Meta, is acting against people using the glasses to harass the public. Meta itself is acting against people covering or tampering the recording indicator LED. And Apple is reportedly considering launching smart glasses without the ability to film, which would largely defy the main purpose. Could the smart glasses era be over before it has begun?
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