With the popularity of smart glasses that can record audio and video on the rise, so are — and post the content to social media.
Disturbed by such reports, state Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie, is sponsoring a bill this legislative session that she hopes will help tackle that problem by tightening Louisian’s recording rules.
Currently, Louisiana is a one-party consent state, meaning that it is typically legal to record a conversation even if only one party knows about the recording. Schlegel’s would require people recording direct conversations to tell the other participants they are doing so. Otherwise, the person making the recording could be sued.
The bill, which has already become controversial, stops short of making h a so-called “two-party consent state,” which means all parties must agree to be recorded. Schlegel is bringing an amendment that would take out all references to “consent” and clarify that the law would only apply to recordings made intentionally.
“This is going to become more and more of a thing where these secret devices are just recording people, and I think it’s going to harm privacy,” Schlegel said, noting that sales of smart glasses have surged.
Last month, CNN released a report about “manfluencers” who approach women in public spaces such as airports and grocery stores, and then secretly film them using smart glasses. The men sometimes post the videos to social media, pitching them as a tool to teach other men how to flirt.
Such interactions aren’t the only aspect of smart glasses raising privacy concerns. This month, the that subcontracted workers for Meta were seeing intimate content from users’ Meta AI glasses, one of the most popular types of smart glasses on the market.
Meta, which did not return a request for comment, told the BBC that workers sometimes review data to improve user experiences, but that that data was filtered to protect people’s privacy, according to the report.
The company is also planning to add facial recognition technology to its AI glasses, the .
Meanwhile, some advocates for sexual assault survivors are raising concerns about Schlegel’s bills. Morgan Lamandre, CEO of Sexual Trauma & Awareness Response, worried it could hamper victims from collecting evidence of their abuse, and from getting confessions without the help of law enforcement.
As an advocate, Lamandre said she often records conversations with abusers to gather evidence for civil court actions, such as protective orders.
“Sometimes they say all kinds of things. Our survivors make recordings of defendants admitting that they did certain things,” she said. “People are not going to say things that they would otherwise say if they didn’t know it was being reported.”
Schlegel’s bill contains several exemptions, including for people recording “emergencies or other situations that could capture evidence of a crime.”
It also exempts people recording law enforcement officers in public, material collected during law enforcement activity, recordings of public meetings and “public officials performing official duties in public places where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.”
Acknowledging such concerns, Schlegel on March 10 delayed bringing HB410 in front of a House committee while she worked to address them. The House Civil Law and Procedure Committee must greenlight the bill before it can head to the full House.