Oslo bans smart glasses in schools, cites Meta data concerns
The Oslo administration says the devices are barred during the entire school day at all education levels over privacy concerns tied to Meta.
Oslo city authorities have prohibited the use of smart glasses inside schools across the Norwegian capital, saying the devices will be banned for the entire school day and at every education level, the city administration announced today.
City frames move as privacy measure
Julie Remen Midtgarden, the deputy mayor responsible for education, defended the ban and framed it as a response to broader privacy risks linked to large technology companies. "We, the political representatives, must have the courage to be honest about what this is really about: one of the richest companies in the world has launched a product whose business model is completely based on the fact that it is impossible to know when someone is recording you. In Oslo we do not accept that our children become statistics in Meta's data gathering," she said.
The city highlighted the functionality of current smart-glass devices: they can record photos and videos, play music, make phone calls, translate foreign-language text, display text or maps in the user’s field of view and interact with an integrated artificial-intelligence assistant. Media reports also say Meta is preparing facial-recognition features for its hardware.
Oslo's measure covers all school hours and all levels of schooling. City officials presented the decision as a preventive step to keep pupils out of always-on recording environments and to limit the collection of students’ personal data.
Authorities did not detail penalties or enforcement mechanisms in the announcement, but the ban signals a strict local approach to classroom privacy as companies introduce connected wearable devices into public life.
Photo: press material from the event
