Smart Glasses in Public Spaces: A Closer Look at the Right to Privacy

Date Posted:Wed, 30th Sep 2026

The UAE Cyber Security Council and Meta have launched a new programme supporting students, developers and startups to create AI-powered experiences for wearable devices. Participants will receive access to Meta’s technology, training and mentorship, with their work culminating in a showcase at GITEX Global 2026. The Council says cybersecurity, privacy and user trust should be built into the resulting innovations from the outset.

That commitment matters because wearable technology can affect people who have never agreed to use it - or may not be aware that it is being used. Smart glasses may be worn in a café, classroom or workplace. If an application captures images or voices, the person behind the camera is only one part of the privacy equation; everyone within its range may have rights and expectations of their own.

AI raises the stakes further. An image or recording might be analysed, stored or combined with other information. Even where the immediate use seems harmless, the legal questions quickly become practical ones: What information is collected? Who receives it? How long is it kept? Where is it kept? Can a person know that their data has been captured, let alone challenge its use?

The UAE’s Personal Data Protection Law provides a framework for protecting personal information and restricts processing without consent, subject to legal exceptions. Whether it applies and what it requires, will depend on the particular application and circumstances. Developers should therefore examine the data their products collect before deployment, rather than assume that a device owner’s acceptance of terms resolves the rights of people nearby.

Cybersecurity is equally central to those rights. A wearable device may connect cameras, microphones, software and remote services. Weak access controls or insecure storage could expose information gathered in moments when people reasonably believed their conversations or surroundings were private. Sound security is thus more than a technical feature: it is one way a developer gives practical effect to a promise of privacy.

This programme therefore offers an opportunity to put the aforementioned concerns into the development process. Clear recording indicators, limits on collection and retention, secure handling of data and careful testing of how applications behave around bystanders are all questions worth addressing while products are still being designed to ensure one’s personal data rights are respected and protected.

The promise of smart glasses is that technology can respond to the world around us. The legal challenge is ensuring that, as it does so, it respects the people in that world too.

Author:
Catarina A. Tavares
Crimson Legal