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- Lawmakers in Pennsylvania want new smart glasses rules
- A proposed bill would mandate that glasses display when they are recording video or audio
- This comes after reports that modders are disabling this feature on Meta Ray-Bans for a price
Last week, I covered reports of, let’s face it, creeps who have been modifying their smart glasses (typically Meta Ray-Bans) to secretly record video and snap photos — by disabling the safety light that flashes when the glasses’ camera is in use. Now, Pennsylvania lawmakers want to make private recording with smart glasses a crime.
Representative Joe Ciresi (D-Montgomery), has introduced a bill that would require smart glasses made, sold or used in his state to display a visual indicator (like a light) when the device is recording — though his bill would go beyond video and to audio as well.
Calling the bill’s rules “common-sense privacy safeguards” to prevent the “misuse of emerging technologies.” It would also require device makers to prevent users from disabling the visual indicator.
While Meta has yet to respond to this new proposed bill, a spokesperson did get back to us after my last story, saying, "All technology — whether it's cameras, smartphones, or AI glasses — comes with the same basic expectation: people should behave responsibly and not misuse it.”
Adding “We aggressively target anyone advertising tampering tools, have removed thousands of violating ads and Marketplace listings for these services, and pursue legal action when appropriate," in response to questions about modification services being sold and advertised through Meta’s own Facebook Marketplace platform.
Meta also explained that its teams are working on evolving its measures — so hopefully it’ll find a way to counter the techniques modders have developed to disable the smart glasses' safety light.
The best outcome?
This new bill is one I’m expecting we’ll see echoed across the States and in other regions because it feels like common sense.
As I mentioned before, we’re seeing how folks are being plain weird in public by misusing smart glasses to harass, intimidate, stalk, and spy on people — amongst other creepy behavior — and these actions risk spoiling everyone’s fun.
Cameras on glasses have genuine utility for allowing the AI to identify landmarks or translate signs, or simply snapping a quick first-person shot while you’re on vacation. Having used my Meta Ray-Bans plenty, the camera quality is worse than my phone's, but the big advantage is that the specs can record without taking me out of the moment — you’re living it for real, not behind a phone screen, but still capturing the memory.
But the risks of misuse can be countered by full-on bans, so I’m glad to see Pennsylvania is taking a tactful approach.
We’ll have to see how companies and governments respond to modification services trying to skirt these rules, but this is the best possible next step in the smart glasses safety saga — giving us an increasingly uncommon win in the consumer tech space.
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