California governor Gavin Newsom has used his veto authority to send a bill passed by the state’s legislature back to lawmakers, which would have made it unlawful to secretly record people with wearable recording devices.
Newsom said in a letter to lawmakers on Wednesday that he declined to sign the draft law, California Senate Bill 1130, on grounds that it defines wearable recording devices as “too broadly or imprecisely” and that this could lead to confusion and unintended consequences. Newsom added that the proposed bill also includes protections that already exist in California’s law.
The bill would have made California the first state to regulate the use of smart glasses, as countries like Norway seek to potentially ban the technology. Had California’s law passed, violators could face fines or prison time, while wearable makers that did not comply with the rules would have also faced fines.
The bill sought to prevent people from being recorded in public places without their explicit consent, amid a rising number of wearable products containing cameras and microphones that always listen and record everything nearby, like internet-connected glasses made by Meta and Snap. Meta sold more than 7 million wearable glasses last year alone. Several other hardware wearables, such as AI-powered pendants, have launched with mixed reactions.
The bill’s author, California state senator Eloise Gómez Reyes, was quoted by ABC News as saying that the bill aimed to help California respond to the rapid rollout of always-listening tech.
Critics and consumers alike have dubbed the controversial wearables “pervert glasses” following multiple reports of people recording and harassing people. Apple announced last month that its latest Apple Watch software will include an always-listening feature that allows wearers to replay a transcript of the past 15 seconds and also recap and summarize conversations from the day.
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