Smart glasses are cool, but recording strangers for social media raises serious privacy questions.
I recently saw a rise in people wearing Ray-Ban Meta glasses, but what stopped me in my tracks was when I was doing my usual scrolling and stumbled across an influencer ranting because people raised concerns about recording simply everyone they passed; their response “I’m a content creator, I have to record everything” – which first of, no you do not so invalid point but it got me thinking.
If you haven’t heard about them before, smart glasses are glasses that have a built-in camera, microphone and speakers; you can make phone calls, send voice messages and texts. They have many more features, such as Meta AI integration, which basically means you have a built-in personal assistant, and you can livestream.
Objectively, it’s a creative and interesting technology that could genuinely be life-changing for people; for example, someone who may struggle with accessibility could use the glasses to help with daily tasks to live more independently, which is incredible.
The problem isn’t even the technology itself; it’s when they’re used with no regard to other people’s privacy that it becomes an issue. Some people do not want to be put on social media or even included in your video. Imagine being in a local café, meeting a friend for coffee and later that day you see yourself in the background of a POV TikTok, it would throw you off.
I have seen content creators who actively ask for consent in the video, which is the bare minimum, but appreciated. People do deserve to know when being filmed. I must admit, I do enjoy seeing vendor TikTok’s from farmers’ markets because I am quite curious and I love to see new passions, new businesses from all over the world, so in that aspect, the smart glasses are valuable and give businesses exposure. It feels more dystopian in a way because they look like regular glasses; at least with phones, you more than likely know you are being filmed.
The consent aspect of the Smart Glasses would be the main concern for me. Filming laws differ from country to country.
In Ireland, filming laws don’t seem fully updated to reflect the social media era yet. However, when it comes to formal filming, some of the key points from Screen Ireland are:
- Private property: need owner’s permission and location agreement; insurance recommended.
- Public property: require licences/permits from local authorities; inform An Garda Síochána.
- Consultation: anyone affected should be informed in advance.
- Commercial filming: monetised content is treated as commercial; permissions and licences apply.
While researching these guidelines, I started wondering. If someone uploads content and earns money from a social media platform, isn’t that technically commercial? For me, it raises questions about consent and how our laws need updating to reflect the social media era.
Filming has been normalised for a while, starting with early YouTube vloggers and gradually moving onto Instagram and TikTok. With all these mediums, it’s logical as to why people may see it as normal; some may argue the pressure of capturing content, others may see it as ‘real’, or simply maybe they don’t care. But if we take a step back and look, it’s not normal to film random people and post them.
Smart glasses are cool, but maybe we should reserve the real “smart glasses” for life itself – our own memory.
Written by EmilyRose Nulty
