A tiny light is the only thing stopping your privacy from being stolen
California's smart-glasses privacy bill was killed by a governor who fears it might apply to smartwatches.
The story
California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill requiring smart glasses to have visible recording indicators, arguing it would unfairly apply to other devices like smartwatches.
Source: fortune.com
Our reading
A small white light on smart glasses is the only warning a stranger gets that they might be recorded. It’s not flashy, not loud, just a tiny beacon of transparency. But it’s enough to make some tech companies nervous, and enough to make a governor veto a bill.
Newsom’s concern was that the law might accidentally apply to smartwatches, which are already full of cameras and microphones. But the real irony is that the light is already on the glasses—so why not make it bigger? Maybe the real problem isn’t the law, but the idea that a light is the only thing standing between a person and a stranger’s camera.
The light is still there, blinking quietly, like a secret the company doesn’t want you to notice. But it’s there, and that’s the point.
