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Crossbenchers push for an import ban on 'pervert' smart glasses (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 4 days ago by bignose@awful.systems to c/australianpolitics@aussie.zone

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In recent weeks the devices, dubbed "pervert glasses" by some critics for their capacity to film in secret, have inspired two Australian petitions calling for restrictions on their sale and import which attracted tens of thousands of signatures.

Now the Greens, with support of independents, plan to launch a bill when parliament next sits to halt the import of such glasses as well as other wearable recording devices for at least 12 months, until tougher privacy protections are passed into law.

"If we end up having millions of these devices in the country, there'll be no place that's free for your privacy," Greens senator David Shoebridge said.

"Right now it's glasses, but in a month's time it's almost certainly going to be earbuds, maybe it'll be a lapel pin, maybe it'll just be your T-shirt, I don't know".

He said parliament had a narrow window of time to block their large scale importation before such devices "wash through society".

"Maybe we should think ahead for once," Senator Shoebridge said.

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[–] Tenderizer@aussie.zone 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

We shouldn't lump CCTV cameras into the same bucket. Considering what the CC stands for. If someone has to request the recording and a government official has to then share the recording if the request is appropriate, that is a massive difference.

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 1 points 2 days ago

The vast majority of cameras are privately owned. Businesses, cars even residential doorbells are watching quiet streets these days.
It has reached the point where you can't get 100m from home without being on camera. One in four cars that pass you have a dashcam. One in two houses (that seems crazy-high - not sure I can trust Google on that one) have cameras watching the front yard/street. Any of their owners can choose to upload footage of you to the Internet for whatever reason they like.

It gets murky with what goes on inside shops. They're allowed to film you, but they may not be allowed to just upload that footage to the Internet. But their employees absolutely call out "interesting" footage to one another. "Check out this crazy kid's antics" or "Look at what this man/woman is wearing/doing". Should they? Probably not. Catching them at it and calling them out is not easy, though. And they'll probably just claim it as "training" or similar.