LAHORE, Oct 20 (Focus Pakistan) — The Punjab hidden cameras ban will target spy pens, watches and eyeglasses fitted with concealed recording devices as the provincial government moves to crack down on illegal surveillance, harassment and blackmail. Officials say a formal notification will follow within days.
Use one, buy one or sell one, and the Home Department promises “strict legal action”. It said it wanted to shield people’s privacy and personal information, women and children above all.
The statement did not specify the penalties or the law under which the province would enforce the ban.
The Punjab government would issue a formal notification within days. The province announced the decision ahead of the notification to give owners time to get rid of such items.
COURT PRESSURE ON SMART GLASSES
The decision lands as the Lahore High Court hears a separate challenge to the sale of smart glasses fitted with cameras and microphones.
Citizen Husnainul Abideen brought the public interest case. Ray-Ban Meta glasses look like any other pair of spectacles, his petition argues, but the frames can shoot photos, record video and stream live while the people in front of the wearer may never realise it. Abideen grounds the case in Articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution, which protect liberty, dignity and privacy.
His lawyer, Shahram Saqi, told the court that Meta does not officially list Pakistan as a market for the glasses. He said shoppers can still buy them online and in Lahore stores, including outlets at Hafeez Centre.
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Earlier this month, Chief Justice Aalia Neelum summoned the interior secretary, the commerce secretary, the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue and the member customs after their offices failed to respond to the petition. On Thursday, the court directed the federal government to send a summary to the federal cabinet on the unregulated import and sale of smart glasses.
The devices have already surfaced in Lahore’s courtrooms. In July, a sessions court ordered YouTuber Rajab Butt to produce his Meta smart glasses and submit a written reply over the alleged recording of court proceedings.
GLOBAL SCRUTINY
The glasses first reached shops in 2023, a joint product of Meta and Ray-Ban. The frames carry a white LED that lights up while the camera records, but users have found workarounds to disable it. Meta says tampering affects fewer than 0.1% of the frames it has sold.
The LHC petition points to concerns from regulators in Ireland, Italy and Germany, and to restrictions on smart glasses in courts in England and Wales and in New York.
Governments elsewhere have split on how far to go. Oman banned the sale and import of devices with hidden spy cameras, many of which traders sold through social media. Singapore went the other way. K. Shanmugam, its home affairs minister, told parliament in 2018 that banning spy cameras made little sense when every mobile phone carries a camera someone can hide. His government chose stiffer punishment for voyeurism over a ban.
WHAT THE BAN LEAVES OUT
Punjab’s statement names pens, glasses and watches, but it does not say whether the ban covers branded smart glasses that carry visible recording lights. Nor does it say how police will track online sellers, or gadgets that travel into Punjab from other provinces.
Those answers should arrive with the notification. Until then, owners of such gadgets have a few days’ warning and very few details.
