Hans Anders, a major European glasses retailer, will no longer sell smart glasses in Belgium or the Netherlands. Gizmodo reports that privacy concerns are behind the decision.
Reuters reported a statement from a Hans Anders representative: "This decision follows the ongoing public and political debate surrounding smart glasses and the questions being raised about the conditions under which this technology can be used." The statement points to a debate, not to a law or a single incident. The report doesn't say which brands the chain carried, how many of its stores sold them or when the pairs come off the shelves.
The restrictions so far have mostly covered where you can wear the glasses. Hamburg's parliament voted to keep them off the city's trams and out of its public pools, and asked Berlin for rules covering all of Germany. England and Wales confiscate Meta glasses at the door of every court, and New York State has barred them from its courts too. Wetherspoons, which owns more than 800 pubs, has banned recording with them, and Royal Caribbean has restricted them across its cruise ships. A shop that sells glasses for a living has now decided not to carry smart glasses in two countries.
No federal rule exists in the US, though lawmakers have started asking Meta whether it plans to add facial recognition to its glasses, and Wired has reported that Meta is interested in doing exactly that. Meta is already being sued over facial recognition on its glasses that it never switched on. In California, the governor vetoed a bill that would have required a recording light on smart glasses.
Hans Anders is the only retailer named, and Belgium and the Netherlands are the only markets.