The growing popularity of Meta’s AI-powered smart glasses is raising new questions about privacy, consent and the rules surrounding filming people in public.
The glasses, developed by Meta in partnership with Ray-Ban, allow users to take photos and record video without reaching for a smartphone. A small indicator light is designed to alert people nearby when the camera is recording.
However, privacy advocates argue that the indicator may not always be noticed, particularly because the glasses look similar to conventional eyewear. Concerns have increased as reports emerge of people using smart glasses to record strangers without their knowledge and share the footage online.
So, is filming someone in public legal? There is no single answer because the rules vary by country, state and even location. In many jurisdictions, people generally have a lower expectation of privacy in genuinely public places, but that does not mean every recording is automatically lawful.
Recording can become legally or ethically problematic when it involves private conversations, intimate situations, harassment, stalking or the publication of someone's personal information. Businesses and venues can also impose their own rules, meaning something permitted on a public street may not be allowed inside a private establishment.
Australia, for example, has recently seen a growing debate over smart-glasses use. Brisbane City Council introduced restrictions at its public swimming pools, allowing staff to remove people who use camera-enabled devices to record others without permission.
The technology has also attracted attention from law-enforcement agencies. In the United States, some departments have warned that discreet smart glasses could be misused to record sensitive areas and security procedures.
Beyond the law, there is a question of basic consent and courtesy. Someone may accept being photographed by a visible camera at a public event but feel very differently about being recorded by a device that looks like an ordinary pair of glasses.
For users, the safest approach is to avoid recording people in situations where they could reasonably expect privacy, respect venue restrictions and seek permission when a person is the focus of the recording. If footage will be published online, extra care should be taken because sharing identifiable images can create additional privacy concerns.
As smart glasses become more common and increasingly combine cameras with artificial intelligence, regulators and technology companies face growing pressure to establish clearer safeguards. Australia's eSafety Commissioner has recommended measures including stronger recording indicators and automatic blurring of people's faces.
The debate is therefore moving beyond whether people can record in public to a broader question: just because technology makes recording easier, does that mean people should record without consent? For many privacy advocates, the answer is increasingly clear — responsible use must include respect for the people being captured.