Basement, a New York City nightclub, is the latest venue to turn away Meta smart glasses at the door. The club says the frames break its standing no-photo, no-video policy; anyone carrying a pair, worn or stowed in a bag, faces being asked to leave and possibly a permanent ban.

The decision, reported via Futurism, pushes the ban wave that started in the UK into American nightlife. Jeremy King’s restaurants, including Simpsons in the Strand and Arlington, already ask guests to leave recording glasses behind, and Soho House says its filming restrictions apply to them too. Courts in England and Wales already collect recording glasses at the door and hand them back on the way out, and a number of UK cinemas are considering similar restrictions over piracy concerns.

The logic for venues is simple. People do not like being filmed by strangers, and smart glasses let someone record without visibly holding up a phone. Guests who feel uneasy about being recorded may simply stop showing up, a risk no venue wants to run.

Basement is one club, so calling this a nationwide US trend would be premature. Should more venues conclude that the privacy cost outranks the novelty, hard bans could spread quickly.

Source: Digital Trends