Norway is planning to tighten regulations on smart glasses and similar devices amid concerns over their potential impact on privacy, the country’s Ministry of Digitalisation said Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Digitalisation Minister Karianne Tung said the government was considering measures that could include banning features such as facial recognition of people in public spaces.
“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.
Smart glasses can be equipped with cameras, microphones and augmented-reality displays, allowing users to record photos and videos, make calls, translate text, view maps and interact with AI assistants.
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Tung said she would appoint an expert group to advise the government on how to regulate the technology and urged both public and private organizations to establish their own guidelines.
“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,” she said. “We must avoid this equipment being used to monitor other people in public spaces.”
The Norwegian Consumer Council welcomed the move. Its head of digital policy, Finn Lutzow-Holm Myrstad, urged retailers to halt sales of smart glasses until clearer rules are established.
Myrstad also warned that banning facial recognition would not prevent people from secretly recording others, saying the potential for abuse was “enormous.”
