California governor vetoes bill banning use of ‘pervert glasses’ to secretly record people
- ID
- 30850
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 02 Oct 2026, 12:35 AM
- Fetched
- 02 Oct 2026, 1:32 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/california-governor-vetoes-bill-banning-use-of-pervert-glasses-to-secretly-record-people/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 4.0
- Created
- 02 Oct 2026, 1:32 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersstartup_founders
What happened
California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 1130 on September 30-October 1, 2026, which would have made California the first US state to regulate secretly recording people with wearable devices such as smart glasses. In a letter to lawmakers, Newsom said the bill defined wearable recording devices "too broadly or imprecisely" and included protections that already exist in California law. The bill would have exposed violators to fines or prison time and non-compliant wearable makers to fines; Meta sold more than 7 million wearable glasses last year, and Norway is weighing a potential ban on the technology.
Why it matters
If you ship camera/mic hardware or build apps for always-listening glasses, the practical result is that California still has no state-level consent rule for secret recording, so you are not blocked by a new compliance deadline today. The veto reason — the device definition was too broad — tells you what the next draft will try to fix, so an explicit recording indicator or consent prompt remains the cheaper design choice than retrofitting one after a redrafted bill passes. The text contains no Malaysian or Southeast Asian policy, funding, or infrastructure angle, so there is no local regulatory action to track from this item.
Discussion angle
If you were building a camera-and-mic wearable or an app on Meta's glasses, what consent or recording-indicator UX would you ship voluntarily — and does the "too broadly defined" veto objection change what you'd build before any law exists?