The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has adopted a statement on smart glasses during its latest plenary (Brussels, 13 October 2026), providing preliminary guidance to users, manufacturers and service providers as these devices become more widely available.

Key points from the statement:

• Risks: smart glasses look like ordinary glasses but include cameras, microphones and internet connectivity, so individuals may be recorded without their knowledge. EDPB Chair Anu Talus noted that risks are greater in sensitive environments such as hospitals, schools or workplaces, and when recordings are shared on social networks; children are especially at risk, both when using the glasses and when being filmed.
• Shared responsibility: under the GDPR, users are data controllers when, for example, they share photos or videos on public social media accounts or use the glasses as part of official, professional or political activities. Purely personal uses (recording family or friends, private translation in a private context) fall under the household exemption, but criminal, civil, labour and sector-specific rules may still apply.
• Manufacturers and service providers: producers of the glasses and providers of linked applications or services are themselves data controllers and cannot transfer their obligations to users; they must comply with data protection law and ensure any new processing remains compatible with the original purpose of collection.
• Transparency: identified as one of the main challenges, since bystanders may be unaware that personal data relating to them is being processed, by whom and for what purposes. According to the Chair, smart glasses should make their recording obvious — for instance with bright LED lights, audio signals or voice activation cues, privacy-friendly smartphone notifications or unique designs — and these warnings need to be reliable, hard to ignore and always up to date. The statement also encourages industry standards and awareness-raising measures.

Alongside the statement, the EDPB published the report “The connected gaze. Video recording, surveillance and administering evidence in the age of smart glasses”, developed by an external contractor under the Support Pool of Experts (SPE) programme following a proposal from the French DPA. Written by a digital sociologist, the report examines user experiences and non-users’ perceptions of the risks, and finds that smart glasses are sometimes becoming instruments of interpersonal surveillance and handling of evidence, with power imbalances between those who use the devices and those being recorded. The views expressed in the report are those of its authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the EDPB. https://www.edpb.europa.eu/news/edpb-publishes-statement-on-the-data-protection-challenges-of-smart-glasses_en