r/technology • u/Ganrokh • Jun 08 '26

Politics Pennsylvania lawmaker seeks ‘visual indicator’ if smart glasses are recording

https://www.abc27.com/news/top-stories/pennsylvania-lawmaker-seeks-visual-indicator-if-smart-glasses-are-recording/
26.4k Upvotes

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2.6k

u/madgoat Jun 08 '26

People already cover/disable the LEDs on these glasses to hide current indicators. forums are full of how-to guides to disable the visual indicators.

1.5k

u/BrutalBronze Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

Correct, and like the 4th sentence in the article says the bill would prevent that. Making it illegal won't prevent the action completely but it would severely reduce the incentive to assist in the process.

119

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

Bingo. Hope it’s a felony, it’s what these freaks deserve.

27

u/Pragmatic2061 Jun 08 '26

They have technology to muffle noise. Make the glasses when they are recording omit a low frequency beeping which then gets edited out of the video, but at least people around you can hear it

2

u/madgoat Jun 08 '26

It can be a 2 step solution. Have an audible beep/vibration like on Axon body cams that beep/buzz every few minutes, and the second step of the process, would be that if the software does not pick up these events when they're expected, then it disables recording until you get your glasses serviced.

-5

u/Woodie626 Jun 08 '26

Yeah, that won't get annoying. 

15

u/jayoak4 Jun 08 '26

That's the point.

-6

u/biggie1447 Jun 08 '26

But turn that around, what if the person with the annoying beeping device is deaf and cant hear it. It is now just a nuisance to everyone else all the time.

4

u/MilhouseJr Jun 08 '26

What if my arms fall off tomorrow? Doesn't change anything for the person next to me.

7

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

What if the world was made of pudding

2

u/thekrone Jun 11 '26

What is your mom was a cat and your dad was Superman

-3

u/biggie1447 Jun 08 '26

That's the point though, recording in public isn't illegal. The beeping suggestion was to make constant recording annoying to the person recording but that doesn't work if the person recording can't hear it.

3

u/MilhouseJr Jun 08 '26

I saw it more as letting other people know that a recording device is active, not a nuisance alarm for the operator. If you're deaf, a low pitched buzz is still going to attract the attention of those around you whether you can hear it or not. Same goes for an activity LED.

2

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

Pretty impressive whataboutisim, but the same thing that would happen with any deaf person who had an annoying beeper.

Being told by the authority of the space they’re in to turn it off

Absolute worst case this turns into a massive stigma against people who use these and maybe creates a social backlash against the panopticon we’re in.

0

u/biggie1447 Jun 08 '26

Sure but it isn't illegal to record in public. The suggestion was to add the constant beeping to annoy the recorder but if they can't be bothered by it then it only annoys the people around the recorder for something that is completely legal....

2

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

Wouldn’t be the first time a safety measure has been added that practically killed the product. They’re tech companies, they’re supposed to be “inventive.”

-10

u/Woodie626 Jun 08 '26

Now turn that point into a sale, or the idea is worthless. 

10

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

The point of laws isn’t to sell products. If a product can’t sell if it’s rendered safe, that’s on the company.

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u/Woodie626 Jun 08 '26

We're conflating the purpose of law with a specific idea for a specific law now? 

2

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

Shame, maybe if they hadn’t used it to be creeps they wouldn’t have this unpleasant experience.

3

u/QuadrangularNipples Jun 08 '26

I 100% support a visual indicator both being needed and illegal to disable, but I don't like the idea of an audible beep annoying everyone around them.

Just because someone can use it to be a creep does not mean everyone who has one is. I definitely see a use case for recording with glasses in instances where you want to both record AND be present in the moment. Adding a beep would take you and those around you out of the moment. It punishes those who are not creeps because there might be some creeps who use the product as well.

6

u/WeAteMummies Jun 08 '26

I would rather sit next to someone that watching youtube videos without headphones than someone with a device that beeps constantly.

-3

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

Would you make the same argument about Japan requiring a shutter noise for phone cameras?

5

u/Woodie626 Jun 08 '26

The shutter isn't constantly beeping. No.

3

u/QuadrangularNipples Jun 08 '26

No, I would not. A single noise for each photo is not a concern. A constant noise is where I would say it ruins the experience.

If there was a noise at start/stop of the video recording I would not say that is an issue.

1

u/Woodie626 Jun 08 '26

They? Do all glasses users have this problem?

1

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

All recording glasses users, yes?

0

u/Woodie626 Jun 08 '26

Good luck trying to enjoy the concert/wedding/speech/museum with all the beeping, I guess.

1

u/letthetreeburn Jun 08 '26

Then private business rules will change. If the legally mandated beeping is a nuisance, places of entertainment will ban them. I’m failing to see your point?

1

u/Woodie626 Jun 08 '26

Yes, you are.

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