Should tech events ban Meta's smart glasses? Organizers divided

The glasses, which have a camera embedded in the frame and a small light that flashes during recording, have been branded "pervert glasses" or "stalkerware" by critics. An activist group in London called Everyone Hates Elon created a mock ad featuring Jeffrey Epstein wearing the glasses with the tagline "Glasses for people who don't do consent." An online petition across the UK and Ireland has gathered thousands of signatures calling for a ban. UK cinemas are reportedly considering banning the device over piracy concerns, and the pub chain Wetherspoons has effectively banned recording with the glasses in its pubs.

Meta insists the glasses were designed with privacy and safety features built in from the start. Sifted contacted Meta for comment but did not report a response. Madeline Lawrence, cofounder of Belgian cybersecurity unicorn Aikido Security, noted that Defcon has banned the glasses. She said the specs are "very controversial in cyber land," partly because of the cyber community's culture of intense online anonymity and partly because of security concerns about how the glasses capture and store data and how hackable the systems are.

However, other events are taking a different approach. TechBBQ, a conference in Copenhagen, has no plans to ban the glasses. Spokesman Keyvan Thomsen Bamdej told Sifted, "The issue isn't the device, it's the behaviour. You can just as easily covertly record someone using a smartphone." He added that the conference's code of conduct covers all gadgets and that a blanket ban could be exclusionary because AI glasses are a game-changer for many visually impaired individuals.

The HumanX conference in Amsterdam in September will also allow the glasses. Cofounder and CEO Stefan Weitz said banning them would be like banning smartphones at a computer show in 2008. He acknowledged "real questions about privacy and consent" but argued that the event is the right place to work out norms, not avoid them. He expects invitees to honor basic etiquette and "read the room."

In contrast, an invitation-only tech gathering called Rebase in Dublin in October will effectively ban the glasses. Organizer Eamon Leonard, an investor at pre-seed fund Baseline, said the glasses would clash with the exclusive, Chatham House-style discussions he hopes to foster. Invitees would have a reasonable expectation of trust that comes with closed-door sessions, he said.

Other organizers are still deciding. Lachlan Chavasse, who runs Deep Tech London, is considering an explicit opt-in for ambient recording, similar to existing rules for filming and photography. The debate is likely to continue as new situations arise. Jem Collins, director of Journo Resources, told Sifted she had to talk to a man in her sauna who considered wearing the glasses there and only refrained because he feared they would get damaged, rather than because it would be inappropriate.