'People call them pervert glasses': Blind users fear backlash over smart tech

“People call them pervert glasses”: Blind users fear backlash over smart tech

Fraser Fleming says his glasses help him navigate public transport and read street signs

Fraser Fleming walks up to the corner of a busy street in Glasgow city centre and asks his smart glasses to describe the road ahead.

A voice from tiny speakers in the arms of the glasses tells him there are several parked cars and a person walking towards him.

For 44-year-old Fraser, who is registered blind, that is “game changing” information.

“I know how to approach the street and what sort of care to take,” he says.

“If I need to maybe take my time or if I can just walk at normal pace.”

Fraser, who started losing his sight in his early twenties, says his AI-powered Meta smart glasses have been part of his daily life for the past two years.

They help him get around on public transport, read street signs and order from menus — but he has begun to think twice about wearing them in public.

“People are calling them pervert glasses,” he says, referring to multiple reports of them being used to secretly film and harass people, particularly women and girls, with the footage shared online.

Fraser says this is having a harmful impact on anyone who wears them, including visually impaired people.

“We are definitely not using them to record people in dodgy situations,” he says.

“We’re using them to lead an independent life.”

They were labelled “pervert glasses”.

Fraser, from Motherwell, told the BBC’s Your Voice that he would often take his glasses off if he thought there might be a confrontation.

“I’ve got enough to worry about getting from A to B,” he says.

“I’ll just put the glasses away and have to rely on my other senses in order to navigate around, which is going to make life a lot more difficult for me.”

Tracey Rogerson, who uses the technology to help with her sight loss, shares Fraser’s concerns.

“I was shocked to hear that they were being called pervert glasses because for me, they’re such a big part of my life to help me maintain my independence,” she says.

Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, began selling smart glasses in 2021 and has sold about two million pairs since February last year.

It says there is a light on the frames that makes it clear the glasses are recording, but it also warns users not to take part in harmful activities.

Because of the backlash against the glasses, some venues and events have banned or at least limited their use over fears about covert filming, including ComicCon Scotland, which is due to take place in Edinburgh later this month.

That means Gordon Brown, who is severely sight-impaired and has attended the event with his family for the past three years, will not be going this year.

He says the effect of the ban on disabled people has been ignored.

“Even if I was to put my glasses on quickly, just to read a sign or something, I wouldn’t feel comfortable,” says Gordon, from Inverkip.

“I think it’s a matter of principle now, the fact that they’re not willing to engage, and they’re not willing to listen to a minority group.

“You know, we’re not talking about thousands of people all of a sudden turning up wearing smart glasses.”

Monopoly Events, which stages some of the biggest comic and entertainment conventions in the UK, said in July that it had banned Meta glasses to “stop secret filming” of guests and attendees.

The ban covers Meta glasses and other “wearable recording devices.”

The company was contacted by the BBC about Gordon’s comments.

Cosplay artist and performer Teah Pearn was at a comic convention in Birmingham earlier this year when she was secretly filmed.

She later found out the footage had been posted online.

Teah, who performs as Spill The Tea and has 1.9 million followers on TikTok, says she felt “violated”.

“He was purposefully trying to provoke me or purposefully trying to make strange comments to get a reaction out of me so that he could get that perfect clip that he could post on social media and capitalise off it,” says the London-based artist.

Teah says her experience shows why restrictions are necessary, but she believes there should be exceptions for people with disabilities.

“For people who need the glasses and who really have to use them, I think they should be able to use them,” she says.

“They shouldn’t have to deal with the fact there’s been a certain group of people who have spoiled it for them.”

In a statement, Meta said: “We are proud that our AI glasses give blind, low-vision and hearing-impaired people greater independence in daily life.

“They were built to be noticed, which is why every pair with a camera has a bright light on the front that blinks when you take a photo or video.

“It cannot be turned off and the camera is disabled if someone covers or tampers with it.”