Berliner Tageszeitung - French prosecutors probe secret filming of women with smart glasses

Anyone wearing smart glasses can take photos, film videos, listen to music, make phone calls, translate text or interact with an AI assistant.

Meta's smart spectacles, developed in partnership with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, have become a commercial success. Meta sold seven million pairs in 2025. Other companies, including Google and Snap, are also preparing to roll out AI-powered glasses.

Calls have grown in Europe for action against what campaigners call "pervert" smart glasses after secretly filmed footage of girls and women have appeared online, with a petition in Britain demanding a ban on their sale.

In France, the e-Enfance association, which operates the national hot line for victims of online abuse, earlier this month sounded the alarm about videos recorded with camera-equipped glasses and shared online.

The Paris public prosecutor's office said on Tuesday it had received "complaints relating to violations of privacy linked to the use of smart glasses". Prosecutors did not say which brands were involved.

Prosecutors pointed to a "growing trend on social media involving women being filmed on the street with smart glasses without their consent and the videos being published online".

Under French law, such an offence is punishable by up to two years in prison and a 45,000-euro ($51,000) fine.

Prosecutors said that in some cases investigations had also been opened for sexual assault when "the acts are accompanied by non-consensual sexual contact".

The Paris prosecutor's office said its cybercrime division "tested smart glasses in September in order to identify the commission of other cybercrime-related offences".

Such offences could include the theft of a cryptocurrency wallet's recovery phrase, enabling criminals to steal the funds.

F. Burkhard--BTZ