- Norway plans to regulate smart glasses more strictly and may ban facial recognition in public spaces, Digitalisation Minister Karianne Tung said on August 25.
- Tung will appoint an expert group on privacy and has urged organizations to set their own rules in the meantime.
- The Norwegian Consumer Council called on retailers to halt sales of the devices until legal clarity is achieved.
Norway will crack down on smart glasses and consider a ban on facial recognition in public spaces, Digitalisation Minister Karianne Tung said on August 25. Tung noted that Artificial Intelligence is increasingly paired with cameras and microphones built into glasses, earbuds, and caps, adding that Norway “must avoid this equipment being used to monitor other people in public spaces.”
She plans to appoint an expert group to advise the government on consumer protections and urged public and private organizations to draft their own guidelines while the rules are written. No timetable has been set for the legislation. Finn Lützow-Holm Myrstad, head of digital policy at the Norwegian Consumer Council, welcomed the move but said shops should stop selling smart glasses until the law is settled.
A BBC investigation in January found women were secretly filmed with Ray-Ban Meta glasses, with footage posted to TikTok. Swedish newspapers reported in February that Nairobi-based contractors hired to train Meta‘s AI had reviewed recordings of people undressing, using bathrooms, and having sex.
The ACLU and 75 other groups urged Meta in April to abandon facial recognition in the glasses. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation in May, and Meta patched the devices in July after users found ways to defeat the recording light.
Meta has since patented eyewear that recognizes faces and logs what wearers do. The Comic Con organizer Monopoly Events and the DEF CON security conference have both barred the glasses, and Police Scotland opened an investigation in July into a TikToker accused of filming people.
Norway would be among the first countries to legislate specifically for the devices. Tung’s ministry has not said when the expert group will convene or when a bill might follow.
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