Could Meta’s ‘pervert glasses’ be banned across the UK? – The Latest
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What are Meta’s Ray‑Ban smart glasses and how do they work?
This is the Guardian.
They've been described as pervert glasses and there have been viral videos of women being filmed without their knowledge. I got filmed on metal glasses.
Message him, hi I'm 17, didn't know you were filming this. There's been numerous women who've been coming out and saying I was recorded without my consent and I saw it later on social media. I think what's interesting is their biggest intervention has been to get Kylie Jenner involved. These smart glasses have been around for a while, there've been concerns around for a while, and then they're like, okay, actually we need to maybe convince women not to be afraid of surveillance but to embrace it. How much are we willing to sacrifice for convenience?
From The Guardians Today in Focus, this is the latest with me, Lucy Hoff. We have been seeing and hearing so much about these meta glasses. There is this massive advertising campaign that is fronted by Kylie Jenner. Kirsty Major, your deputy opinion editor, you've been looking into this for us. I understand that you have a pair or you've tried a pair. I did not have a pair.
I was lent a pair for a video, so I have worn them. I have experienced the Ray Ban meta
Okay.
You know, a mess of experience, yeah.
Why are the glasses being called “pervert glasses” and what incidents have sparked the controversy?
But you you weren't persuaded to make the the purchase. Okay, so first of all, what are they? Wha how does it work and what are your thoughts on wearing them?
So the simplest way to think about them is they're a smartphone that you put on your face. Right. Whatever you can do on your smartphone, you can do on these glasses. So you can make a call, you can send a message, you can get the AI assistant to answer a question for you, but most controversially you can record people and take photographs. So that's where the friction has come in because I mean, creepy people on the internet will always be creepy people on the internet and they'll find ways to use this technology to do pretty creepy things. And so there's been numerous women who've been coming out and saying I was recorded without my consent and I saw it later on social media. So that's sort of been the the sticking point.
Yeah, yeah. Well we'll talk more about that because that is becoming a really big part of this conversation, isn't it? About the sort of safeguards that are needed. But I suppose as a bit of a sort of like technological geriatric, what is the point? Like why why would you need them? So
How do the glasses benefit people with disabilities or accessibility needs?
What's interesting is for some people they are actually quite useful. The fact that they're hands free means that if you are disabled, you can use the features more easily. Blind people can use them to scan for obstacles in the road. So they can actually be like incredibly useful and enabling for a lot of people. Yeah. But it's not those people who are using them often. Okay. It's uh content creators who who might have some sort of nefarious like like aims for them. Yeah so that's sort of the problem. So that's sort of
Well that's good to hear that there are some some positive uh aspects of these glasses for people living with disabilities. But as you say, there is also huge controversy, particularly amongst women. They've been described as pervert glasses and there have been viral videos of women being filmed covertly without their knowledge and as a result of that they've been banned in some venues such as pubs. Do you think we're gonna see that kind of widening?
Yep, so we've seen it in weatherspoons in a lot of London restaurants. They've been banned totally.
Which venues in the UK have banned the glasses and what reasons do they give?
And that's to protect the privacy of the patrons and I mean, I don't know about you, but if I feel like someone's watching me while I eat, like Like it like indigestion. Like it's horrible. Like you want to be able to relax and sort of let go with your friends. So I I I think that's really reasonable. And also they've been banned in a lot of places with kids. So for example, the nursery that I send my daughter to, no smart glasses allowed, which is really important. It's not only women, it's what there are children out there who are being recorded without their consent and you just don't know what happens with that footage.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are Meta’s Ray‑Ban smart glasses and how do they work?
0:00–1:19
2
Why are the glasses being called “pervert glasses” and what incidents have sparked the controversy?
1:19–2:24
3
How do the glasses benefit people with disabilities or accessibility needs?
2:24–3:27
4
Which venues in the UK have banned the glasses and what reasons do they give?
3:27–4:23
5
Can you easily tell when someone is wearing the smart glasses?
4:23–5:37
6
What hacks or work‑arounds have users discovered to disable the recording lights?
5:37–6:38
7
What solutions are being proposed to prevent non‑consensual footage from being shared?
6:38–8:21
8
How is Meta responding to privacy concerns and could a ban be implemented across the UK?
8:21–9:31