Urgent call to update laws amid rise of 'silent threat' on Aussie roads: 'We need to catch up'

Yahoo

2 days ago

Smart glasses are emerging as a "silent threat" on Australian roads, with experts warning their use behind the wheel poses serious risks to safety and privacy, all while slipping through existing legal cracks.
Often designed to resemble regular eyewear, smart glasses come equipped with discreet cameras, microphones and even display screens built into the lenses. While they're marketed as a blend of fashion and function, their increasing use in Australian society, including behind the wheel, is triggering concern among industry specialists.
Monash University research found that 13.5 per cent of Australian smart glasses owners had used the technology while driving or cycling. Even more had recorded others without their consent, often in spaces where filming is restricted.
Now, Professor Hussein Dia, an expert in future urban mobility, has joined a growing chorus of voices calling for tighter regulation before smart glasses become a subtle but widespread threat to both road safety and personal privacy. Speaking to Yahoo News, Dia admitted the situation is worse than he'd anticipated.
"It is more concerning than I initially thought," Dia said. "These glasses can not only record and store video on the device itself, but when paired with a mobile app, the videos can also be sent to the cloud or even streamed live for everyone to watch."
The potential risks, he said, are far-reaching. "So indeed, they are a 'silent threat' to road safety and privacy. Their rising use, including while driving, presents serious risks to road safety and personal privacy, and their use seems to be outpacing current Australian regulations. They can distract drivers, stream video in real time, and record people without them ever knowing.
"It's a legal blind spot, and we need to catch up quickly."
Unlike dashcams or built-in vehicle cameras, which are fixed in place, clearly visible, and generally accepted as tools for recording evidence, smart glasses are different — they're wearable, can move with the person, and often look just like normal glasses, making them hard to detect.
Major brands like Ray-Ban, Meta, Amazon, and Google have all released iterations of the product.
"I thought to myself, well, how do they compare to dashcams or built-in cameras that record surroundings in some new vehicles on the market today?" Dia said.
"This is where it gets interesting, dashcams [are] used for insurance or enforcement purposes mainly, but smart glasses are mobile and discreet, making them far more intrusive and especially, they could be mistaken for ordinary eyewear. They can store footage, upload it to cloud platforms, or even livestream content without the subject's knowledge, creating significant privacy concerns.
"Dashcams seem to have some regulations around them, and they are visible, but smart glasses allow real-time recording of anyone, anywhere, without warning. That's a major red flag for both road use and everyday public settings."
Dia explained that while dashcams are accepted because they record the road, smart glasses raise serious privacy concerns because they can go unnoticed in places like shops, schools, and restrooms, capturing personal interactions without consent.
He also warned that they act as a visual and cognitive distraction on the roads. Their ability to stream, record, and display content in a driver's line of sight, Dia said, also makes them potentially more dangerous than mobile phones.
From a privacy perspective, the law offers little protection. "While it's illegal to touch your phone while driving, there's no clear law banning smart glass use behind the wheel. Likewise, Australian privacy laws do little to restrict individuals recording in public spaces, unless audio is involved, or the act is deemed harassing," he said.
"Current privacy laws offer limited protection — in Australia, individuals are generally allowed to record in public spaces, though state-based surveillance laws vary. But most do not adequately address personal use of wearable cameras, particularly where the recording is silent, visual-only, and not clearly signposted." To address the growing risk, he's urging lawmakers to act — not only through clearer legislation but by encouraging manufacturers to build in better safeguards.
"With no uniform national rules around personal surveillance in public and limited road safety provisions for wearable tech, I think we need some urgent regulatory updates that could include amendment of Australian road laws to explicitly address wearable visual displays while driving; strengthening privacy laws to account for wearable and mobile surveillance devices; and getting manufacturers involved to introduce clearer recording indicators, and restrict usage in sensitive areas," he said.
"Currently, the industry seems largely relying on users to self-regulate, which is not sufficient given the increasing sophistication and miniaturisation of these devices.'
"As smart glasses become more common, this won't be just a tech issue, but more so a public safety issue. Without stronger rules, action and more public awareness, we would be heading into risky territory where smart glasses risk becoming a widespread yet largely unregulated form of mobile surveillance with implications not just for road users, but for public life more broadly."
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