A Hidden Feature in Smart Glasses Has HR Panicking—But There’s a Surprising Reason Some Can’t Ban Them
As smart glasses gain mainstream popularity, stealthy workplace recording capabilities are exposing companies to severe legal, privacy, and data security risks.
After more than a decade of slow user adoption, smart glasses are finally taking off in popularity. There were more than three times as many Meta AI glasses sold in 2025 as the two previous years. But does the use of smart glasses in the workplace pose major privacy issues?
The most popular smart glasses are produced by Meta and promises several features including live translation, built-in speakers, and hands-free controls. However, its most controversial feature is its ability to record whatever the wearer is looking at, often without the knowledge of the person being filmed.
For workplaces that involve vulnerable people or sensitive
For workplaces that involve vulnerable people or sensitive situations, smart glasses can pose serious ethical questions for employees. In an opinion piece for the International Association of Privacy Professionals, lawyer and privacy expert Noga Rosenthal uses the example of a kindergarten teacher who uses smart glasses to record his classroom. Although some might object to this as off-putting, it is currently perfectly legal.
There are other settings such as at a doctor’s office or in a nursing home where these smart glasses are often not prohibited, even though most people would want these interactions to be kept private. In these cases, the downside of patients feeling less secure might outweigh any benefit that employees gain by wearing them.
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Most workplaces do not currently have rules governing the use of smart glasses. In an interview in Human Rethe lawyers said, “The combination of covert recording capability, ease of dissemination, and high data quality creates a compliance challenge that existing frameworks were not designed to address.”
Some places—especially those that involve people during potentially
Some places—especially those that involve people during potentially traumatic moments—have begun to restrict the use of these glasses by employees. ICE employees were recently banned from wearing smart glasses, and the New York State Unified Court System has prohibited anyone wearing these devices from entering a court facility.
In addition to the issues of filming someone’s face, these devices can also pose risks to data privacy. As pointed out in reporting from The Verge, many workers handle personal customer information such as people’s names, addresses, and credit card numbers. This recorded data could be misused by employees or stolen by malicious third parties.
Source: www.inc.com
