Privacy experts warn of gaps in NZ law, as camera glasses hit Kmart shelves
Privacy experts are raising concerns over the sale of affordable camera-equipped smart glasses, warning they create significant gaps in New Zealand's privacy laws. Unlike smartphones, these devices allow for discreet recording, potentially enabling misuse such as non-consensual filming in public or private spaces.
Why it matters
The proliferation of low-cost wearable surveillance technology challenges existing legal frameworks that were designed to regulate organizations rather than individual behavior.
Privacy experts are warning that wearable camera technology , dubbed by some as " pervert glasses ", expose significant gaps in New Zealand's laws.
University of Canterbury professor Annette Mills said the devices, which were often marketed as smart glasses, were "essentially a computer on your face", combining cameras, microphones, speakers and AI-powered functions in everyday wearable technology.
Her warning comes as Kmart begins selling its Anko Camera Glasses for just $99, a price point expected to make the technology far more accessible than premium smart glasses such as Meta's Ray-Ban range.
She said that while the glasses offered some benefits, especially as assistive technology for people with disabilities, the technology's growing popularity raised serious privacy concerns.
"We expect to be recorded in some places, such as by CCTV cameras in supermarkets," Mills said.
"But we certainly don't expect to have that everywhere we go."
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