Smart glasses: beware of the danger

While the market for increasingly discreet and high-performance smart glasses is still relatively young, Apple's arrival next year should give it a significant boost, amplifying concerns about the balance between innovation and privacy. Australia is on high alert regarding potential abuses: stolen videos and attacks on dignity. Indeed, these AI glasses are nothing more than hidden cameras, used as such by entertainers like Laurent Baffie, but also for less honorable purposes such as cheating on exams. As for the even more serious abuses linked to this type of gadget, the Australian tech site Channel News recently reported on them. Stories are already emerging in Australia of video capture in public places, followed by the sharing of these clips on social media without the consent of the people filmed. Furthermore, personal, sometimes intimate, exchanges are mentioned, without the consent of the person being filmed, often women. Safeguards are still insufficient in the face of increasingly discreet glasses. Regarding the evolution of the technology, dozens of civil liberties associations warn that the introduction of facial recognition on these glasses could prove dangerous, allowing access to individuals' personal information without their permission. Safeguards will presumably be in place, even if they can always be circumvented, and there are already AI glasses with cameras so discreet that they are indistinguishable from normal glasses.