Weekly wrap: Samsung plans new smart glasses 

Samsung’s executive vice president, Jay Kim, spoke with CNBC about the glasses at the recent Mobile World Congress. He said that the device would include a camera at “eye level” but didn’t say if it would have a built-in display.

The move will draw Samsung into a face-off (no pun intended) with Meta, the owner of Facebook and other major platforms, whose Ray-Ban smart glasses currently account for 82% of the global market, according to Counterpoint Research.

Meta’s glasses are operated through a wristband that uses the 2.4 GHz ISM (industrial, scientific and medical equipment) band, standard for Bluetooth devices. It can also use the 5 GHz band.

The fact that smart glasses rely on continuous connectivity for features like augmented reality overlays, cloud processing and AI features has prompted regulators to think about allocating more spectrum for short-range high-capacity use.

In the US, for exmaple, the Federal Communications Commission authorised the use of the 6 GHz band for low-power devices such as wearables in 2023.

However, the rush to boost new tech must not mean that other concerns get overlooked – such as the issue of who can view the content captured by the glasses’ camera. 

“Devices processing personal data, including smart glasses, should put users in control and provide for appropriate transparency,” according to the UK data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

“Service providers must clearly explain what data is collected and how it is used,” the ICO told BBC News.

The BBC highlighted that by accepting the UK terms of service published by Meta, users authorise the following review of their data: 

According to a recent Swedish investigation, a Kenyan subcontractor of Meta reviews images and videos recorded by the wearers of smart glasses, including bank details and sensitive content.

According to the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act (2018), a lawful basis is usually needed to process personal data, such as recordings, including how the data is used.

However, the BBC has reported on several instances in which women were secretly filmed without their consent. 

Birmingham City University has looked into how to deal with the use of the glasses on its campus. The university suggests that the rules are “still catching up”.

“For organisations, governments and regulators, this raises difficult questions ranging from consent to data privacy,” the university said in a statement. “These concerns aren’t new, but making wearable AI both affordable and discreet has made them far more urgent.”

With the ICO considering privacy challenges, there are questions as to how regulators will deal with misuse cases, and if and when new policies will come into effect to prevent this.

Here’s what else PolicyTracker covered this week:

• The EU could face a “competitive disadvantage” amid a widening divergence from the US on which bands to use for 6G, according to a consultant
• Indian regulator TRAI is planning another major auction that will include the 600 MHz band, but not the upper 6 GHz band
• Satellite companies pursuing direct-to-device services want to use both IMT and MSS spectrum
• Brazil is looking to auction a spare 2 x 10 MHz in the 700 MHz band
• The European Union’s Radio Spectrum Policy GroupRSPG stands for the Radio Spectrum Policy … plans to release its advice on the lower UHF band in June 2027