MSC Cruises is banning smart glasses in common areas
MSC Cruises is the latest one to ban smart glasses and this may be becoming more and more of a problem for people using them.
Previously in Egypt tourists have reportedly been blocked from going to see the pyramids and some museums there also ban them. Saudi Arabian authorities apparently confiscate them at the airport from arriving passengers. Anyone who needs a prescription needs to consider that they may not be able to use them everywhere.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2025/12/13/msc-cruises-smart-glasses-ban/87737203007/Open linkView original on sopuli.xyz148
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No offense to fans, but good. Last thing we need are more devices recording everything.
I'm not really concerned about offending them. Those things have no business being in public spaces.
well I think the strongest case can be made for blind/deaf users that can benefit from the glasses being able to observe on their behalf and give them the information they otherwise could not have auditorily/visually.
valid - so we should regulate them like assistive devices and make sure there's a certificates one can show so that exceptions can be made (like bringing a guide dog into a dog-free space)
furthermore such tools should be ideally democratized and made public but realistically at least in the hands of assistive tool companies as one user with sight loss notes:
and while i've had moments where ive been "wow it would be so cool to snap a pic right now of a thing i don't have time to pull out my phone for" - the downside of such devices becoming as ubiquitous as smartphones so we end up in an era where everyone has a camera on their face at all times sounds too dystopian to be worth pursuing imo.
A doctor's note didn't help prevent someone from being physically assaulted the last time this stuff came up in the news:
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/cyborg-steve-mann-details-alleged-mcdonald-s-assault-flna889595
Fair. And I agree.
I don't own one but why shouldn't they be in public spaces? Do you think we should ban police officers from wearing body cams in public spaces? And how is it any different from my smartphone, which almost everyone is almost always holding at chest height recording level anyway?
The bar in SF where the guy got socked over it kabashing the whole thing, is up for sale... Maybe it was the honmoon all along
Didn't we already go through this 10 years ago with google glass? Why are we repeating this again? Businesses killed Google glass then and they will kill the meta glass this time.
I don't think Glass ultimately failed because of that. It was a limited device that made the wearer look like a member of the borg.
Errrr. Good.
Holys shit thats..... actually based
Why don't they put a feature on the glasses where whenever they are recording a red light dot shines and/or blinks so that everyone knows the glasses are recording? There could also be a beep sound played like they do for phone call recording.
This is already a thing on many products, but people just cover them up.
The Meta glasses do have a blinking LED that signifies that recording is active. It's a white instead of red LED though. It also has a light sensor that is meant to prevent the user from covering the light.
What a bunch of idiots. Anyone trying to surreptitiously record something is going to use their smartphone and any million of apps that play it off as some game or other app. They're not going to use the most conspicuous device that exists short of Homer Simpson's bee hat.
I do think a lot of that goes on with phones already but I will say there are certain situations where the person recording can't do it so well with a phone. Such as when they're actively interacting with whoever they want to video.
This includes phones, headphones and laptops (+ walkmans, dictaphones and string between 2 cups).
Do they just mean glasses with in built cameras?
These have no AR features. It’s music playback and stealth photo and video capture. That is all.
Meta now has a new model that includes a display also. It's arguable whether that technically qualifies as AR but people do tend to look at these as part of the category.
So even less capable than Google glass, I see.
But as far as the stealth photo and video capture goes, what do you do about those little camera/mic on pen type little gadgets? The only difference for them is that they are not sending all that to Meta.
That's a pretty significant difference. Plus those devices are more suspicious when pointed at you.
Can't say I agree.
I have seen one of the pens and it's hard to realise it has a camera. Also, it's probably made for the times when people used to normally keep a pen in their breast-pocket.
For me, honestly that's a good enough difference and I would be fine if someone were just keeping a camera on their head while in public. Although my expectations might change in a shared restroom with urinals.
Also, would you want a similar response to someone using AR glasses, not made by (and not selling video data to) any corporation?