Pubs and restaurants are treating Meta’s smart glasses like hidden cameras, and I’m completely on board

Meta's smart glasses have gained popularity in recent times, with the Ray-Ban glasses not only becoming fashionable but also equipped with camera capabilities. However, this feature is raising concerns as pubs, restaurants, private clubs, and theatres across the UK are imposing restrictions on their use. The issue echoes past bans on Google Glass and mirrors the social backlash it faced a decade ago.

Restaurateur Jeremy King has stated that guests should refrain from wearing the recording glasses inside his venues, while Soho House has extended its prohibition on filming to include smart glasses. Wetherspoons has taken a slightly more lenient stance, prohibiting customers from using the glasses to record patrons or employees without permission. ATG Theatres will also ask patrons to remove the glasses during performances due to filming restrictions.

The policies vary, ranging from outright removal to restrictions on camera use. London restaurants banned Google Glass in 2013, and UK and US cinemas followed suit, citing privacy and movie-piracy concerns. Meta has introduced blinking capture LEDs and safeguards that disable the camera when the indicator is covered or altered. Despite these measures, privacy concerns persist, with reports of individuals being recorded without their knowledge and footage uploaded to social media.

Instagram is working to remove smart-glasses videos that exploit or harass people appearing in them. While the availability of millions of these "spy" glasses may bring a sense of reassurance for privacy in public spaces, tech giant Apple is also undergoing significant changes. The company is cutting over 200 jobs across teams working on the Vision Pro, Siri, and AI software, with a notable impact on the Vision Pro side.