Chiara Castro

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are facing growing criticism in the UK after reports of covert filming, voyeurism, and the online redistribution of recordings. Private venues have introduced bans, but public recording remains difficult to regulate because existing privacy and data-protection laws leave an enforcement gap. A nationwide ban is considered legally possible but unlikely and potentially disproportionate, particularly because the glasses offer benefits such as hands-free assistance for visually impaired users. The article argues that the core problem is the discreet nature of the devices and warns that facial recognition, third-party data processing, and increasingly inconspicuous camera technology could undermine public anonymity, potentially requiring stronger legislation and design obligations.

European police forces are increasingly using live and retrospective facial recognition, as well as broader AI video analytics, at protests and in public spaces. The article argues that weak or incomplete legal safeguards in the UK, Italy and the EU could normalize biometric surveillance, discourage people from exercising their rights to protest and enable wider behavioral monitoring. Experts cite high false-positive rates, disproportionate impacts on minorities and women, covert data aggregation, and the risk that facial recognition will expand into emotion and gait analysis. The central concern is that public spaces may become environments of continual surveillance, undermining privacy, equality and democratic participation.