Just approaching someone on the street, making a joke or filming women without them realizing it. This is getting easier and easier with glasses that have cameras attached to them. The images end up on TikTok and Instagram, sometimes with hundreds of thousands of viewers. This is no longer an unknown phenomenon in the Netherlands. Therefore, there are calls for measures to be taken in our capital.
Camera glasses are becoming more and more popular. One famous example is the Ray-Ban Meta, which allows the wearer to record video from his or her field of view. This technique is useful for holiday images, for example, but it can also be used to capture people who go unnoticed. This raises privacy concerns.
Women don’t understand anything
Videos have emerged on social media showing women being approached on the street without knowing they were being recorded. There are also photos of famous figures in the red light district and women in bikinis at the Marineterrein in Amsterdam.
So-called pick-up artists also use these glasses. They approach women with the intention of seducing them while recording the conversations. The images will then be posted as content on social media. For example, some producers make money from them or use the videos to sell courses and e-books with decorating tips.
half a million viewers
One Amsterdam TikTokker, who has posted dozens of such videos, wrote telegraph. A video of him trying to seduce a Bijenkorf employee has been viewed more than 500,000 times.
DENK leader Sheher Khan is worried about this development. In an interview with the newspaper, he said he found the fact that people being filmed often had no idea they would later be seen by a large audience online problematic. Camera glasses usually have a light to indicate when to take a shot. However, it turns out that warning light can be turned off.
Play pranks to get as many views as possible
It’s not just limited to secretly filming women. Police and public transport employees have also appeared in videos recorded using the glasses.
Sometimes unpleasant situations are created on purpose. The filmmaker is trying to provoke someone and hopes to get a dramatic or angry reaction. The bigger the reaction, the funnier the video on social media. More viewers and likes ultimately also means more income for the creator.
No glasses allowed to be photographed?
In Germany, possible restrictions on camera glasses are already under discussion. Khan also wants Amsterdam to investigate what may have happened. He asked Mayor Femke Halsema about this.
One of his suggestions was to design camera glasses that intentionally turn off warning lights. Khan wants to investigate whether modified glasses can be disposed of or confiscated, including through local general regulations (APV). He also wants better action taken when images appear on social media without permission. Khan said local authorities should have more options to remove such content.
It’s unclear whether the new measures will actually be introduced. Regardless, the discussion made it clear that cameras are not always easy to identify these days. Anyone wearing regular sunglasses might easily end up in front of a much larger audience than expected.
These are the most read articles right now:
- Which is actually more economical: washing dishes or using a dishwasher?
- Jiry (43) now talks about his departure from Iris in B&B Vol Liefde: “There was no love in that moment”
- Relationship psychologist explains ‘Nausea’: the three stages of sudden disgust for your partner
- Statement on the day: “Following fatal accident, farmers’ protests on highways should be banned from now on”
- Reporter discusses Iris from B&B Vol Liefde: “She only thinks Jiry is sexy and has zero empathy”
