Meta glasses at the school gate

[Minephotographercat]

I know several Dads at our primary school own, and are big advocates of the meta glasses that can record people without them realising.

WIBU to email the school (without naming names) with my concerns that our children might be being recorded at the school gate?

Dear sis workplace, two colleague got into an argument over them and one colleague grab the glasses and stamped on them.
you prob don’t believe that either.
Workplace have issued a blanket ban.
I don’t all the details of the altercation but something to do with them being worn in the toilet.

The OP hasn’t even claimed that anyone is using them at the school gates! Just that some parents of children at the school own the glasses, or have expressed interest in owning the glasses. That’s all that has happened. She has jumped immediately to assuming that they will be used for nefarious purposes in and around the school, and should be pre-emptively banned. It’s a massive overreach.

But again it’s the filming which is the issue. Cameras and camera phones and even camera glasses aren’t new.

People locating people on social media isn’t new.

People are making a big deal out of the metta glasses because of how heavily they’re being advertised and because some people are using them for nifarious purposes, but again. This isn’t new.

The issue is social media and what people are choosing to do with it.

Instagram, TikTok, YouTube aren’t new. So why is all the emphasis on the metta glasses?

I don’t personally rate them, I am VI and still don’t rate them. But equally I can see how some people do, and also I can see how some people do film whatever, even innocently, and do it hands-free.

The backlash needs to be against the kind of content that is being filmed and uploaded. Without the likes and clicks on sleezey mcSleeze’s TikTok on how to pick up a woman, or tosser’s tiktok on how to confront a shop assistant they don’t have a market for using the glasses for such purposes, but the person who just wants to take a few pictures still does without needing to be branded a pervert for doing so.

If someone is a pervert for owning a pair of camera glasses then surely anyone with a camera phone is one as well?

It’s not the item, it’s what you’re choosing to do with it.

We all know who’s going to use them, and it’s not the nice guys

I know people who use them for work and sport. For tasks where they want to film but need to use their hands. I also know people with disabilities, such as visual impairment who use them for reading menus, describing objects etc, and I know someone who uses theirs as a translator. But I work in tech, and most people have the latest stuff.

Quite a number of smart watches do have cameras. They're really easy to take a photo with and not look like you're holding your hand in an odd way.

Like I said earlier, the technology runs too fast for schools to keep on top of.

oneclearwinner.co.uk/product/smart-watches-with-camera/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21370078229&gclid=Cj0KCQjw16_UBhCqARIsAIdOaXyLTQfqxq1sOj_VJzJtB4plq_iMqc_H3mN4USBaxmYwSlUMxwfMV9MaAlsNEALw_wcB

What you need to bear in mind is that if someone wants to take photos of a child, the smartphone is enough. They don't need meta glasses.

Someone was once taking photos of my girl and it took me a few minutes to work out that was happening.

Goodness knows where those photos went.

The genie was let out of the bottle when smartphones developed decent cameras. If you're wanting to ban meta glasses at the school gate because they have the potential to take photos, then you need to ban smartphone carrying too for exactly the same reason.

That would not go down well with any parent body.

Rubbish. If someone is walking around holding their phone up like they’re recording on the school grounds then it would be a very reasonable action to say that isn’t allowed and put it away, these are kids. I’d expect most other parents to be vocally on board as well as the school. There are laws around photography and recording at schools and childcare here. The problem is these glasses are doing just that all the time. I plan to get them banned from childcare which is just our following legal guidance.

smart glasses are here to stay. Google are launching theirs in the autumn, Apple next year.

and banning glasses won’t stop filming.
go pro is still a thing along with other wearable cameras. Apple are rumoured to be putting cameras in their next gen air pods.

public filming hasn’t increased because of the Metta glasses, people have just become more aware of it.

None the less, it would be the legal duty of any responsible person running a childcare to take all reasonable precautions that there be no filming, which is illegal. So I would ban smart glasses on the premises, as the only feasible way to ensure we are compliant with the law and protecting children, which is our paramount consideration. Phones are here to stay, that ship has sailed, you won’t find anyone argue with it; yet many workplaces ban them in some areas / teams, I’ve worked in those.

Too fast for me too, haha. I don't have much use for anything other than basics.

Yeah, that’s not okay. Emailing is probably a good idea as most of the men might not realise they are making people uncomfortable and will leave them in the car next time.

Report to the school, name names. If they love recording or taking photos perhaps they won't object to their photos being taken and sent to the school.

Good luck with that.

I'd be that person who would argue with you that you would need to ban smartphones too if you intend on banning glasses.

How about smart watches? You know which ones take/don't take photos? I presume they're all banned already on site?

Earbuds too in the future if apple bring out air pods with cameras in?

Banning everything is

A) unenforceable
B) not recognising the bigger problem

It's far too short sighted to go around banning everything. If someone wants to take nefarious photos of a child, they will. Your bans really won't stop them.

Have you not heard of visual impairments?

Staff are banned from having phones in rooms and smart watches too, smart watches can be approved on exception, there are requirements on the logging and review of exceptions. If a parent took out a phone to take a photo or look like it I’d want them to be asked not to, and get staff to send a note reminding parents of the new laws. If a parent insisted on filming we’d ask them to leave and have an emergency discussion on what warnings to give and at what point we ban a parent from coming in, and how to facilitate care for their child if we couldn’t let that parent on the premises. We will be compliant with the law. Banning meta glasses on site is straightforward step. We are also required to consider the safety and well being of the children in our care above all other factors.

There is no law to be compliant with.

https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/ph/photography-advice/

If your private childcare provider chooses to not allow parents smart tech within the grounds, that's their choice. It's not the law.

And, like i said, it's pretty hard to enforce. Particularly with a parent body of a school of 100s.

im not in the uk, I think I’ve said earlier that where I am there is a law. It does not apply to parents but I’m comfortable banning parents recording of children on site, which includes wearing meta glasses. The parents will be hugely supportive and if they are not, they can find another childcare with lower standards to wear their meta glasses to.

I wouldn't say lower standards, I'd say higher.

You need to recognise that banning everything is not going to solve the problem.

I think meta glasses will be banned in lots of places. They will absolutely have to be banned in the office space of every place I’ve ever worked for example, you cannot have people wearing them and reading confidential documents, and most of what we work with is confidential.

Time will tell...

It really is becoming a no privacy AT ALL world. Every move is captured either your online data history, cameras, meta glasses, cctv, ring doorbells and so on.

It can only get more intrusive not less. Scary world now.

I'd ban these glasses and camera phones anywhere children congregate, be that schools, playgrounds, swimming pools you name it. No, it's just becoming far too much. Rein it in a bit now please.

Time will indeed tell. In my time working I’ve seen the workplaces with no phones areas expand as people understand the risks more and as companies tighten controls after incidents. The trend in commercially sensitive or regulated areas is locking things down more and more.

Thankfully common sense is starting to catch on with more and more places banning these glasses, private schools (though I’m sure some public ones are too), courts, universities, businesses even Weatherspoons is banning them because they invade peoples privacy.

Ewewwww that is as creepy as hell and yes YADNBU.