Norway's minority Labour government is drafting legislation to ban smart glasses in a defined list of public spaces — parks, beaches, museums, shopping centres, schools, daycare centres, healthcare facilities, gyms, and public events. Private use would remain legal. Digital Affairs Minister Torgeir Micaelsen framed the proposal around a specific failure: people cannot know when they are being recorded by devices designed to look like ordinary eyewear. The bill would make Norway the first country to pass national legislation specifically targeting smart glasses in public spaces, though the government needs coalition support to get it through parliament. An expert group will simultaneously work on permanent regulations, meaning the bill itself is conceived as a temporary measure — a placeholder while the harder definitional work happens. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are the obvious target. The company has sold at least 9 million pairs since early 2023, each equipped with cameras, microphones, AI prompts, and a tamper-proof LED that blinks during recording. Meta's defense — that the LED provides notice — addresses the letter of consent but not its spirit. A blinking light on someone else's face across a park or beach is not meaningful notice to the person being filmed. The pattern of harm is already documented. France's child welfare group E-enfance reported roughly 20 cases this year of women filmed without knowledge using smart glasses, mostly following the same script: approach a young woman in public, record covertly, post to social media as a prank or street interview. This is not a hypothetical — it is the current use case. Norway's move sits against a fragmented global backdrop. UK restaurateurs and cinema chains have imposed private bans. California's governor vetoed a bill that would have penalized unconsented recording in private spaces, citing existing laws. Australia's Albanese government is considering bans in public offices. No jurisdiction has yet passed national public-space legislation — Norway is attempting to be first. The structural question is whether opt-out governance can keep pace with hardware that is designed to make opting out impossible. Smart glasses succeed commercially precisely because they eliminate the social friction of pulling out a phone camera. The product's value proposition is ambient, frictionless recording — which is exactly what makes them a surveillance device from the perspective of everyone except the wearer. Meta's spokesperson emphasized music, calls, and live translations — the non-camera features — while noting the LED and tamper protections. This is the company's consistent framing: treat the camera as one feature among many, rather than the feature that changes the social contract of public space. Norway's bill rejects that framing by targeting the hardware category itself, not any single use case.
