Armageddon Expo has banned smart glasses with recording devices from its upcoming Auckland convention.
In a Facebook post, organisers of the pop culture event said smart glasses or other wearable eyewear with recording devices would not be permitted.
"Cameras taking photos and recording the crowds may be a part of the norm at Armageddon, but no-one should be captured stealthily and without their knowledge and permission, and smart glasses make this far too easy to do," it said.
"We feel there are not enough safeguards built in place by the manufacturers of these products, so we do not want them at our events where people could easily take advantage."
The three-day science fiction and entertainment expo will be held across three days on Labour Weekend at the Auckland Showgrounds.
Pop culture celebrated in all it’s strange and wonderful forms in Auckland. (Source: 1News)
Smart glasses, including Meta’s Ray-Ban and Oakley ranges, can capture video. At a glance, they look like normal eyewear, so some people may not know they are being recorded.
While the glasses can help blind and low-vision people read signs, they can also make covert filming easy, raising privacy concerns.
In cases overseas, women have been filmed in public, with the footage shared on social media without permission.
A commenter asked Armageddon if there would be an exemption for people who used the glasses to assist with sight.
"With no consistent way to know for sure whether smart glasses are recording or not, we have taken the step to ban them in their entirety on the grounds that they impact trust and invade people’s privacy," the organisers said.
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