WA introduces nation's 'most comprehensive ban' on smart glasses in schools - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Students, teachers, parents and contractors will be banned from using or storing smart glasses on school premises. (ABC News: Scott Preston)

WA's education minister has announced the nation's "most comprehensive ban" on smart glasses in public schools.

Students, staff, parents, carers and contractors will be forbidden from wearing or storing the devices on school premises from term 4 onward.

The new rules will apply to all school activities including sports events and excursions.

Western Australia will introduce the nation's strictest ban on smart glasses in public schools, the state's education minister has announced. 

The devices, which look like ordinary glasses, allow the wearer to capture images, video and audio with the press of a button, and have attracted the nickname "pervert glasses" because it is not always clear when they are in use.

Education Minister Sabine Winton said students, staff, parents, carers and even contractors would be forbidden from wearing or storing the devices on school premises under the nation's "most comprehensive" ban.

Sabine Winton has announced a ban on smart glasses in all WA state schools.  (ABC News: Kenith Png)

The new rules, which will take effect at the start of term 4, will also apply to any offsite location where students and staff are representing their school, such as sports events and excursions.

"Smart glasses may look cool but there's absolutely no place in our schools or classrooms for them," she said.

"We know the devices are becoming increasingly popular and increasingly accessible and cheap and there is a growing community concern about the risk of careless, criminal and malicious activity."

A pair of audio recording smart glasses.  (ABC News: Courtney Withers)

WA Principals Federation President Kya Graves said principals had been forced to enact their own smart glasses policies in the absence of a departmental decree, and she welcomed today's announcement.

"They've had some incidents on their sites where they've had to … actually put in place some measures and create their own policy on their school site," she said.

Curtin University professor of internet studies Tama Leaver said the ban was not surprising in light of the negative attention smart glasses had received.

Tama Leaver is a Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)

Mr Leaver said the "worst possible" outcome would be for the glasses to be used to indecently record children, but there was also concern around "unintended uses".

He said the ban would help prevent the capturing of footage that could be used to create deepfakes — AI-created photos, videos or audio files that make a real person appear to do or say something they never actually did.

"It only takes sort of 30 seconds of footage now to create a deepfake of someone using  the most rudimentary AI tools now, so I think that's the risk here as well," he said.

Professor Leaver said the ban in schools could help parents enforce restrictions at home, and have a conversation with their children around the potential dangers that could arise.

"There are definite legitimate uses there but if you're a 10-year-old and you've got access to these technologies then you're probably not quite at the point of having the ethical conversation about when is appropriate to film someone," he said.

Every state and territory has some form of restriction on the use of personal mobile phones and devices in schools.

Ms Winton said WA was going "a step further" than other states, because it would be the first to entirely ban the possession of smart glasses by anyone who stepped foot on school grounds.

In Victoria, "wearable devices" like smartwatches and smart glasses are not currently banned in schools but will be from January 2027.

South Australian Attorney-General Kyam Maher is seeking advice on the adequacy of current state laws and is in discussions with the federal attorney-general about the need for nationally consistent laws.

The City of Vincent last week ordered a report on the privacy and safety concerns stemming from the use of smart glasses in city-owned facilities, and whether enforcement powers needed to be beefed up. 

The minister urged private and independent schools to also ban the devices. 

She said principals could grant exemptions for students with special needs or medical conditions.

Ms Winton said the education department had not recorded any instances of smart glasses being used "irresponsibly" in schools, and said prevention was the key driver behind the ban.