Two household names find themselves at odds: the social media giant against the popular pub chain.
These are the two businesses responsible for most of the controversies featured on The Jeremy Kyle Show.
The pub company has prohibited Meta’s smart eyewear within its establishments.
Meta, which operates Facebook, produces these spectacles equipped with integrated cameras.
Patrons sporting them will be required to switch off the recording function or exit the premises.
The argument centres on the devices facilitating covert monitoring, which violates the standard policy at these locations prohibiting filming of customers or staff without explicit consent.
Steve Allen welcomes this prohibition. He says the prospect of recorded documentation of his pub visits holds no appeal whatsoever and clarifies this is not an assessment of the establishment itself.
The Chinese text roughly indicates he would not falsely claim to be elsewhere while actually spending time drinking at a location, nor would he want anyone possessing verifiable visual records of him.
Steve Allen also does not wish to see recordings of himself drinking in a bar.
Meta states that the frames contain a small LED indicator light that illuminates during recording.
Steve Allen points out that he works in television studios where it is often impossible to determine which camera’s red light is currently blinking.
When mounted on glasses, that indicator light becomes even more minute.
Moreover, it is merely an LED light.
A small piece of blu-tack could cover it.
Nail varnish would also work.
A small piece of non-conductive tape serves equally well.
A rhetorical question arises about who would be bored enough to cover up that indicator light.
The answer is precisely the person one would least want to be secretly recording.
Steve Allen has been contemplating why he feels so wary about people wearing these types of glasses.
After all, society already lives in an era where nearly everyone carries a high-quality camera in their pocket.
People can be filmed by anyone, but that is not covert behaviour.
This differs markedly from the prevailing selfie trend.
Nobody wears spy glasses to photograph themselves.
That would require carrying a mirror.
And the wearer clearly would not share flattering footage.
However, should someone trip on that fashionable carpet, spill their drink everywhere, and fall into an elderly woman’s arms, it would rapidly circulate online.
As with all concerning technological developments, this trend cannot be reversed.
Before long, everyone will be filming each other.
This might lead to increased drinking, at least knowing there is one place where one can relax and drink without surveillance.
Steve Allen is a comedian, broadcaster, and writer. More content is available on his podcast Steve N Allen Almost Daily Updates.