The Irish regulator stated that it agrees on the concerns of Garante, the Italian Data Protection Regulator, which asked clarifications from Facebook on Sept. 10 in order to analyse the smart glasses for compliance with privacy laws.
On Friday, Ireland’s data privacy regulator said it has asked Facebook to demonstrate that an LED indication light on the Facebook’s recently announced smart glasses is “an effective means” of alerting people to the fact that they are being recorded or photographed.
Since the Facebook’s European headquarters are in Dublin, the Data Privacy Commissioner (DPC) of Ireland is the lead regulator under the European Union’s rigorous data privacy laws.
Wearers of Facebook smart glasses, which were developed in collaboration with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, allow wearers to listen to music, take phone calls or capture photos and short videos and share them across Facebook’s services using a companion app.
The Irish regulator said in a statement “While it is accepted that many devices including smart phones can record third party individuals, it is generally the case that the camera or the phone is visible as the device by which recording is happening, thereby putting those captured in the recordings on notice,”
“With the glasses, there is a very small indicator light that comes on when recording is occurring. It has not been demonstrated to the DPC and Garante that comprehensive testing in the field was done by Facebook or Ray-Ban to ensure the indicator LED light is an effective means of giving notice.”
The Irish regulator stated that it agrees on the concerns of Garante, the Italian Data Protection Regulator, which asked clarifications from Facebook on Sept. 10 in order to analyse the smart glasses for compliance with privacy laws.
It also stated that it wants Facebook to undertake an awareness campaign to notify the public about how this new consumer product may give rise to less obvious recording of their images.