UK considers restricting smart glasses over secret filming concerns

The UK government is considering restrictions on smart glasses following warnings from MPs that the technology is being used to film women and girls without consent.

Government response

Labour’s Satvir Kaur said ministers were reviewing options to restrict smart glasses “in certain settings”, and the sale of them to “certain users”. She added the work was happening “at pace”.

Ms Kaur said both NHS England and the Department for Education were examining wearable technology in certain settings, but did not expand on what this involved. She added “appropriate next steps” are also being considered over concerns raised over the use of smart glasses in parliament.

Parliamentary debate

The debate was introduced by Anna Sabine MP, who said smart glasses can “erode safety and privacy in public spaces” and that “women and girls will be disproportionately impacted”.

She acknowledged the huge benefits smart glasses can provide to blind and partially sighted people, and said she was in discussion with the Royal National Institute for the Blind, who she said “have the same concerns as everyone else”.

“These glasses pose a threat to everyone’s safety in public spaces, and their privacy,” she added.

Legal context

Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman said creators on social media are receiving “millions” of views and profiting from the filming, saying the UK law is a “wild west” when it comes to privacy and online abuse.

“It doesn’t matter that the same harassing behaviour is replicated across potentially dozens of women,” she said. “All that currently matters in the law is that it is not done repeatedly to the same woman. As such, this disgusting behaviour is not only legal, but profitable. It is monetised misogyny, plain and simple.”

Filming in public places is legal in the UK, but filming in areas where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy is not generally allowed without the explicit consent of the landowner.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) previously arrested a 27-year-old man from Bradford on suspicion of voyeurism and harassment, in connection with several reports of women being followed, filmed, and harassed in Manchester city centre. In January, the force said it was considering taking civil action after the criminal investigation collapsed due to “limits within the current legislation”.

Domestic abuse charity Refuge has repeatedly warned the glasses “threaten the safety of all women and girls in public, facilitating harassment, surveillance and other abuse”.

Why it matters

The debate highlights a gap between existing harassment law, which requires a victim to be targeted multiple times, and technology that allows covert filming of many different individuals. The government’s review could lead to new restrictions on where smart glasses can be used and who can buy them.

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Sources

• politico.eu: EU countries still can’t get it together on AI – POLITICO
• independent.co.uk: Smart glasses could face UK restrictions over secret filming of women and girls | The Independent

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.