Europe's smart glasses crackdown takes shape

Norway is about to ban camera-equipped smart glasses such as Meta AI Glasses from many public spaces, and a Dutch eyewear retailer is dropping the category from its lineup, because of social and legal pushback. Can a company like Meta, which has many privacy scandals under its belt and which is close to the Trump administration, get around this kind of resistance? To contact me, please email david@techgetsreal.com or connect on: Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/superglaze.eurosky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@superglaze Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidmeyerwrites LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeyer2/ REFERENCES: Norway announces smart glasses ban proposal https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/vil-innfore-midlertidig-forbud-mot-ki-briller/id3175516/ Hans Anders drops Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/dutch-eyewear-chain-hans-anders-halts-sale-meta-glasses-citing-privacy-concerns-2026-10-02/ Dutch privacy regulator AP on camera glasses https://www.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/actueel/ap-waarschuwt-gebruikers-camerabrillen-dat-filmen-van-anderen-vrijwel-altijd-verboden-is Hamburg bans smart glasses in many places https://www.rapporteur.com/news/hamburg-moves-to-ban-smart-glasses-on-public-transport/ German Federal Network Agency resists smart glasses ban https://www.heise.de/en/news/Federal-Network-Agency-not-banning-Meta-Smart-Glasses-11415182.html Svenska Dagbladet on Meta smart glasses imagery being annotated https://www.svd.se/a/K8nrV4/metas-ai-smart-glasses-and-data-privacy-concerns-workers-say-we-see-everything Meta’s smart glasses facial recognition patent application https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28556604/meta-fac-rec-party-patent.pdf Wired on Muse AI agent profiling contacts https://www.wired.com/story/muse-creates-detailed-profiles-of-all-your-friends-and-family/