Smart Glasses: Accessibility tool or harassment risk?
While the tech is being praised for being transformative for people with vision loss, a number of recent incidents have seen it being used for harassment instead.
Last updated 17th Aug 2026
Smart Glasses are not a new technology, with a number of models being released previously by companies like Google, Snapchat, and now Meta.
Glasgow charity Visibility Scotland has been working with Meta, to look into how the Glasses can be used as an accessibility tool, for people who are blind, or experiencing a loss of sight.
Devices like Meta Glasses contain an almost invisible camera in the front of the frames, allowing footage to be captured, as well as providing a way for the Glasses to gather information to be used by its artificial intelligence to describe surroundings.
Using that AI, the Glasses can “bring independence” back to blind people, who can use them to help while eating in restaurants, making dinner, shopping, and getting dressed.
"Got a lot of freedom back"
That’s according to the charity’s Lara Maudsley, who told Clyde 1 the technology has given her back her freedom.
She said: “I use them quite a lot for work purposes, for reading out documents and just general emails, but it’s really good for long documents when it can be quite hefty on my sight, and often it can create headaches for me.
“When I put them on, I use them for the big documents, and I find it really, really helpful, and it also speeds up my everyday tasks, and it means I can get things done a lot quicker as well.”
It’s not just at work the Glasses can help though, she continued: “It can be things like cooking in the house, or checking dates on things, or say if you’re making dinner and you’re looking for seasonings, checking if it’s salt and pepper, different things like that it can be really great for.
"It allows you to have a lot more independence"
“Checking what colour you’re wearing, if you’re wearing a pink top, or grey or white trousers.
“If I’m using my makeup as well, it can sense if it’s a darker shade, a lighter shade, anything.”
Visibility Scotland and Meta have been working together, with the aim being to support independence and confidence in everyday tasks.
As part of that, Lara told us she also uses the Be My Eyes app, which connects through the Glasses to provide more support.
She told Clyde 1 how that works, saying: “You just put your Meta Glasses on, and you can say ‘Hey Meta, be my eyes’, and it connects to hundreds of thousands of people in the world, whether it’s in Scotland, whether it’s in London, America, anyone who’s a volunteer.
“For example, if I was in Morrisons and I was looking for a meal deal, I can say I’m looking for water, I’m looking for juice, or anything, and they can say ‘Your water is slightly to your left, it’s up a bit’, and it allows you to have a lot more independence and feel like you’ve got a lot of freedom back.”
The app connects to the cameras in the glasses, allowing a volunteer to see what the wearer is facing, and provide a description.
Concerns around nonconsensual filming
However, there are concerns blind people using the tech as an accessibility tool could lose out, if venues and local authorities are forced to put restrictions on their use, following recent misuse.
The Good Law Project, is warning tech companies need to do more to prevent people using the glasses for covert filming, primarily targeting women and vulnerable people, with the videos then being posted online without their consent.
The non-profit’s Duncan McCann told Clyde 1: “There is now enough evidence, enough reporting on it, that they can no longer claim to not understand that this covert filming is a significant part of their appeal”
In the last few weeks, a petition in Newcastle has called on the Council to take action against people who use the Glasses for nonconsensual filming, after a number of videos of vulnerable people were posted online and ridiculed.
"They can no longer claim to not understand"
The promoter behind many UK Comic-Cons, Monopoly Events, banned smart glasses from its events, while Wetherspoons have told customers to turn the cameras off if visiting any of their 800+ pubs, and CalMac suspended tours of its ferry bridges, after a passenger on a Stornoway-Ullapool crossing filmed a restricted area,
Duncan McCann says there’s a big question for tech companies: “How do we restrict this good technology for those who really need it, while not enabling it to further the nonconsensual activities that men have been conducting?”
He continued: “Unfortunately, the risks occur disproportionately to women, who are disproportionately the victim, of men doing this nonconsensual filming, and again, enabled by the glasses, that just do not make enough security features to enable people to really understand they’re being filmed.”
"The risks occur disproportionately to women"
Speaking to Clyde 1, Meta said new software updates have been released in a bid to directly address these issues.
An LED light in the front of the frame lights up bright white whenever the camera is capturing content for their gallery.
It can’t be turned off, blinking for video, and flashing for photos - and new updates mean if a tamper is detected, the glasses will no longer film.
However, it has been possible to by specially designed stickers to cover those lights up, or to tamper with the Glasses to damage or remove the lights, which then removes any indication that footage is being captured.
"Trust matters"
A spokesperson for Meta said: “People use our glasses because they're genuinely helpful – from listening to music, to live translation and hands-free calls.
“They also provide critical new technology for people who are low-sighted or hard of hearing and limiting how people can use this technology would be a major step backwards.
“For those wearing them and the people around them, trust matters. That's why we built privacy into our AI glasses from the ground up.
“For example, every pair has a capture LED that blinks when you take a photo or video that you can save or share, it can't be turned off, and if someone covers or damages the LED, the camera is disabled.”
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