{"text":[[{"start":7.2,"text":"You may not remember the original “glassholes”. They were the boorish early adopters of the smart glasses pioneered by Google more than a decade ago. These failed for a number of reasons. They were expensive, unattractive and appeared to answer no significant need. On top of that, Google failed to address the privacy concerns that flowed from someone wearing a camera on their face."}],[{"start":29.68,"text":"Meta is not making the same mistake. With cheaper versions starting at around £220, they are affordable to those with a taste for gadgets. The tie-ups with Ray-Ban and Oakley also mean you do not have to look like a dork, even if, to me, there is still a Joe 90-ish quality to them. Above all, a market prepared to be gulled into paying for smart watches is primed to find uses for them."}],[{"start":53.36,"text":"On top of all that, this is potentially a major new consumer market so Big Tech is all in. Apple and Google are both working on new models while AI enhances their potential practical use. There’s still the teensy issue of privacy, but when were Mark Zuckerberg and his ilk ever worried by that?"}],[{"start":71.26,"text":"And yet, privacy remains the best hope of repulsing these dreadful devices. Already a spirited campaign has begun. They are denounced as “pervert” glasses because of their potential ability to photograph and identify people, notably young women. I’m telling you, Meta Glasses could really take the effort out of stalking. It’s a fabulous use case."}],[{"start":91.58,"text":"For this reason Meta has not yet enabled face recognition, though you know full well that it will come the moment broader acceptance is achieved. Meta is not a business that throttles back its software for anything as piffling as the good of society."}],[{"start":105.36,"text":"Ironically, face recognition is one of the best arguments I can find for ever buying these specs. Anyone of middle age or beyond will see the benefit. There is a raft of irregular acquaintances we meet occasionally, people who would expect us to know who they are, but for whom the mental tumblers do not click into place in time. This is serious social embarrassment we could spare ourselves."}],[{"start":126.72,"text":"Another real benefit is directions. The specs offer an upgrade on holding out your mobile for phone snatchers. It would also help the cyclists and dispatch riders I now regularly see looking at their phones rather than the road. They need an intervention like this to save them from Darwin’s Law."}],[{"start":145.66,"text":"But really, that’s about it. Everything else is just a small upgrade on what we have now for those who find picking up a mobile or glancing at their wrist just too arduous."}],[{"start":153.34,"text":"Against this is the knowledge that you can be covertly filmed pretty much wherever you are by people spared even the jeopardy of having to point their phone. A light on the glasses is meant to tell you when they are filming, and newer models purportedly block filming if the light is covered. But there are already products on offer to work around this."}],[{"start":171.8,"text":"There are some hopeful signs of a backlash. The glasses are banned in Wetherspoons pubs, courts, clubs, cinemas and many restaurants. They will surely be banned in most office environments. Further friction could be added by a requirement to leave them at the door, ideally in unguarded cubbyholes. Bans outside schools or playgrounds will be harder to enforce, as will outlawing them on public transport for the safety of passengers, but it’s worth the effort of campaigning."}],[{"start":198.9,"text":"Every new restriction will help. The task is to set societal norms against the device. Public branding of them as “pervert” glasses must surely dim their allure — at least outside of Jeffrey Epstein’s dinner party list. I’d love to see social media campaigns with slogans such as “the eyewear of creeps” or images of the late sexual predator wearing them under the words: “I never go out without them.”"}],[{"start":222.8,"text":"Society has been slow to stand firm against the downsides of tech until it has already penetrated too deeply into its structures. But smart glasses were a rare victory in the past. Now the fight is rejoined."}],[{"start":232.24,"text":"I fear this new assault by the glassholes will be harder to repel. There is too much money at stake, more uses for the tech and too many idiots who will buy any latest gadget. The least we can do is make life harder for the smart-speccy crowd, restricting use and shaming wearers to the point where it gets easier just to leave them at home. I can’t pretend I’m confident we’ll win but it might be fun trying."}],[{"start":256.6,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1788751837_7970.mp3"}