Lights, bells and liability: Europe’s privacy regulators crack down on smart glasses
Smart glasses firms could be forced to build in flashing lights, audio alerts to abide by EU privacy law.
Europe's top data privacy regulators are pushing smart glasses manufacturers to make their devices more transparent, warning that failure to do so could lead to hefty fines. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) released guidelines on Tuesday recommending that smart glasses users display visual and audio cues when their wearable devices are recording.
These cues could include flashing lights, audible alerts, and notifications sent to nearby smartphones. The regulators aim to ensure that people can easily identify when they are being filmed by smart glasses and understand how their data is being processed. This move comes in response to growing privacy concerns about smart glasses, as videos recorded by these devices have been circulated online without the consent of those being filmed.
While the recommendations are not legally binding, they will serve as a guide for European regulators in assessing compliance with EU privacy rules like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The regulators emphasized that not only users but also manufacturers and app developers may be held accountable for ensuring user privacy.
They urged industry-wide standards to be established to make smart glasses easily recognizable and their data processing transparent. The statement also called for a study on the social acceptability of smart glasses, further underscoring the regulators' commitment to striking a balance between innovation and privacy protection.
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