Debate about smart glasses intensified this week when Attorney General Michelle Rowland unveiled reforms to privacy laws, aiming to keep pace with new technology.

“Australians are increasingly concerned about how their data is being collected, used, and shared, particularly as AI and other emerging technologies, such as smart glasses, become more accessible,” Rowland told reporters on Monday.

“People should not have to choose between protecting their privacy and participating in the digital economy,” she added.

It comes as Australia’s online safety regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, calls on manufacturers to do more to protect the identities of people being filmed.

Today, we’ll explore the privacy panic behind these glasses, and what it means for you.

Let’s dive in.

Smart glasses look like any ordinary pair of reading glasses or sunnies, except they have a small camera built into the frame. A tap on the arm, or a voice command, and this wearable tech will start capturing photos or video, completely hands-free.

They first rose to mainstream popularity when Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses launched in 2021, then went viral in late 2023. Meta has since released its own in-house AI glasses range, including a Kylie Jenner collaboration. A current-gen pair of Ray-Bans will set you back around $700, while the Kylie Jenner version is closer to $630.

Advocates note the technology also has significant accessibility upsides, including for people who are blind or have low vision. But it's the budget end of the market causing the biggest stir locally. Kmart's $89 Anko-brand smart glasses sold out across the country within days of launching, prompting national debate.

Most smart glasses have a small recording light built in, but it's easy to miss, especially in daylight or if the wearer isn't directly in front of you. Some models let users cover or disable that light altogether, which undermines the one safeguard the tech relies on.

Meta has rolled out an update to stop video recording if its LED indicator is covered, but the broader problem remains: the glasses look like ordinary eyewear, so most people simply don't think to check.

Once captured, footage is saved to the device before syncing to a smartphone app, where it can be backed up to the cloud or even used to train AI features, if users ask Meta’s AI to analyse the footage. Where exactly that footage ends up, and under whose privacy laws, depends entirely on the brand and the fine print of its privacy policy.

Out of 1,037 Australian adults surveyed for a Monash University study, 59% owned smart glasses. Among those owners, 17% admitted to recording other people without their consent or filming in prohibited places, and 14% admitted to dangerous use, such as wearing the glasses while driving or cycling.

Younger smart glasses wearers were more likely to report both kinds of behaviour: among owners under 25, 33% admitted to dangerous use outright, with a further 46% saying they'd "maybe" done so.

Monash researcher Dr Fareed Kaviani has argued the findings show policymakers need to act, warning smart glasses fundamentally change the privacy relationship in public spaces.

Rowland's draft privacy legislation, released this week, includes several changes relevant to devices like smart glasses:

For now, we’ll have to wait and see how the proposal progresses, with the draft legislation moving to a consultation phase to receive public feedback by 18 September.

The eSafety Commissioner, meanwhile, has published fresh advice to industry, calling for design changes including clearer recording indicators, automatic blurring of bystanders' faces without consent, recording being disabled when the glasses aren't worn, and stronger safeguards around livestreaming.

Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has made the point that asking people to simply use the product responsibly isn't, on its own, an adequate safety policy.

For now, neither the eSafety Commissioner nor the Privacy Commissioner has the power to force manufacturers to redesign their products or ban them outright.

The Greens’ digital rights spokesperson David Shoebridge has pledged to introduce a private member's bill proposing a 12-month import ban on smart glasses.

Rowland has been clear the Government isn't currently considering an outright import ban, saying: “We are not ruling anything out, but we are utilising what we have at our disposal right now”.

Rowland pointed instead to accessibility considerations and the trade and legal complications an import ban could trigger, while suggesting local councils and businesses are better placed to set their own rules of entry in the meantime.

The Greens’ proposal would also make non-consensual filming, storing or sharing of footage from the devices a clear breach of the Privacy Act, and give the Information and eSafety Commissioners power to investigate complaints and issue penalties.

It’s unlikely to pass without government backing, but it's expected to fuel further debate.

While federal law catches up, some institutions are taking matters into their own hands. For example, a number of Australian schools have folded smart glasses into existing mobile phone bans.

Brisbane City Council has moved to ban the non-consensual use of smart glasses and other recording devices across its public pools, giving lifeguards clearer authority to intervene.

Other cities overseas, including in Germany, have taken similar steps at pools and saunas, while parts of the U.S. and UK have banned the devices from courtrooms.

As for next steps here in Australia, there’ll be two things to keep an eye on this month: whether the Greens’ import ban bill gathers any real momentum in Parliament, and how the Government's own draft privacy reforms progress through their public consultation phase.

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