Norway will tighten the rules on smart glasses and comparable wearables, and is weighing a ban on features that identify passers-by, Digitalisation Minister Karianne Tung said on Tuesday.
Smart glasses let a wearer take photos and video, make calls, translate signs in a foreign language, project text or maps into their field of view, and talk to a built-in AI assistant.
“We can see that people’s private lives and privacy are coming under pressure from new technology, and I therefore want to regulate smart glasses and similar devices more strictly than today,” Tung said in a statement. “This could, for example, mean banning features such as facial recognition of other people in public spaces.”
Tung said she will appoint an expert group to advise the government on protecting consumers from the technologies, and urged both the public and private sectors to consider their own guidelines in the meantime. She framed the concern around the combination of cameras and microphones with artificial intelligence in everyday objects. “There is a clear trend that artificial intelligence is being combined with cameras and microphones that are built into things like glasses, earbuds, caps, and other items we use in everyday life. We must avoid this equipment being used to monitor other people in public spaces,” she said.
The plan does not amount to a ban on owning or wearing the devices. It targets specific functions and how the equipment is used around bystanders.
Finn Lützow-Holm Myrstad, head of digital policy at the Norwegian Consumer Council, welcomed the move and urged retailers to stop selling smart glasses until there is legal clarity. “Meta already has this technology ready to go, and it is only a matter of time before it is rolled out in the glasses,” Myrstad said. He also warned that a ban on the feature would not stop wearers filming people covertly, adding that “the potential for abuse is enormous.”
Meta’s plans for the feature have drawn scrutiny elsewhere. Researchers found dormant face recognition code in the company’s smart glasses app in June, days before it emerged that Meta had licensed Rank One Computing face recognition for testing. In April, 75 civil society groups demanded the company drop the plans.
Sources: The Local Norway
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By Ali Nassar-Smith
