EDPB Publishes a Statement on the Data Protection Risks of Smart Glasses

What changed?

On 13 October 2026 the European Data Protection Board published a statement on the data protection challenges of smart glasses, together with a commissioned report called The Connected Gaze. The Board describes the statement as preliminary and non-binding: it raises awareness of risks and gives initial views, rather than setting firm rules. The report behind it was written by an outside expert under the Board’s Support Pool of Experts programme, and the Board notes that the report’s views do not necessarily reflect its own official position.

Why does this matter?

Smart glasses look like ordinary glasses but can carry a camera, a microphone and an internet connection. The Board’s central concern is that a bystander often cannot tell whether they are being recorded, who is processing the resulting data, or why. It singles out hospitals, schools and workplaces as higher-risk settings, and says children need particular protection, whether they are wearing the glasses or being filmed by someone else.

Who is responsible under the GDPR?

The statement sets out how responsibility can be shared:

• A wearer becomes a controller under the GDPR when they share recordings publicly, or use the glasses for official, professional or political activity. Purely personal use, such as photos shared with family or friends, may fall under the GDPR’s household exemption, though other law (criminal, civil or employment) can still apply.
• Manufacturers and the providers of linked apps or services are controllers too, where they decide the purposes and means of processing. The Board says they cannot shift their obligations onto the wearer, and that any new use of bystanders’ data has to stay compatible with why it was collected in the first place.

What does the Board recommend?

The statement calls for recording to be obvious to the people around the wearer, for example through bright indicator lights, audio or voice cues, or privacy-conscious phone notifications, and says those warnings need to be reliable and kept up to date. It also calls for industry standards and public awareness work so people recognise when a smart glasses device is active.

What should you watch?

This is a statement, not guidelines, and the Board’s news item does not mention a public consultation or a firm timetable for turning it into binding guidance. If your organisation makes, integrates, or deploys smart glasses or similar always-on wearable devices, read the statement as an early signal of how the Board is likely to assess controllership and transparency duties, not as settled law. See our GDPR guide.