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It’s a case of ocular extortion.
A British woman is sounding the alarm on the dangers of wearable cameras after she was allegedly filmed without her consent by a man in smart glasses — who later refused to hand over the footage without payment.
The woman, using the alias Alice, told the BBC that she felt “humiliated” by the video. When she contacted the man to request that he take down the post, he explained he would only do so as a “paid service.”
The man initially approached Alice as she was walking into a London shopping center.
“I just thought, ‘OK, this guy is just trying to talk to me, to chat me up,’” she recalled, noting that she hoped the man would leave her alone, but he continued to follow her, asking for her Instagram information.
She maintains she had no idea she was being filmed and did not consent to being recorded.
“He had no phone, he did not have a camera directly in my face,” she said.
Later, a friend sent her the video of her that the man had posted on social media.
“My initial reaction was complete shock,” she said.
To date, the video has been viewed roughly 40,000 times.
The man is among a growing number of aspiring influencers who are using smart glasses to turn real-life encounters into content.
The videos follow a familiar script — a compliment, a pickup line, a push for a name or number — with the footage later blasted across social media for views, often without the subject ever realizing she was on camera.
Alice immediately contacted the account responsible for the post, requesting that it be removed.
The man responded via email, claiming he is not required to take down the post and writing, “I understand that sometimes people may still prefer for certain content to be removed. In such cases, I usually offer removal as a paid service … If you’d like me to move forward with this, let me know, and we can discuss the terms.”
To Alice, the response felt like extortion.
“It made me feel completely exploited and powerless. I didn’t really know who to turn to, where to go,” she said.
Alice never considered paying for the “service” of removal and reported the incident to the police, who filed a report but were “unable to progress the investigation due to limited information.”
Alice shared that she feels “uneasy” knowing the man still has the file and constantly checks social media to see if he’s uploaded the video again.
The man refused to be interviewed by the BBC or to reveal his identity, but provided an email response, claiming, “I do not engage in harassment or deliberately seek to make anyone uncomfortable.”
When questioned about why he failed to remove the video after Alice contacted him to say it made her deeply uncomfortable, he replied, “Where individuals have expressed genuine discomfort, I have reviewed content on a case-by-case basis and made adjustments where appropriate.”
He maintains that his “intention has always been to create light-hearted, respectful interactions.”
Clips like his have reportedly earned smart glasses the nickname “pervert glasses,” while critics have branded the behavior “predatory.”
After TikTok removed the video and banned his account for violating its harassment policy, the man reposted it on another social media platform.
When asked about his attempt to charge Alice for the “paid service” of removing the video, he defended himself, saying he does not require payment for content removal and is open to reviewing instances of “any misunderstanding or miscommunication.”
When pressed, the man said his offer of “removal as a paid service” applies to requests for editing and other usage, and “not as a condition for removing content in response to personal concerns.”
“I understand how that wording may have been interpreted differently, and I regret that it was not clearer,” he added.
However, as the BBC notes, Alice’s request for removal is unrelated to the paid-for services he described.
The man did not provide further clarification.
The BBC reports that the man runs multiple accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and Threads, all of which feature similar content.
Alice is hoping her story will serve as a warning to others.
“If you don’t consent to content being out there of yourself, it can actually be very dangerous. It’s just a complete breach of privacy and data.”
Indeed, investigation by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten found that footage captured via smart glasses can include people using the bathroom, undressing, and even having sex — often without realizing they were being recorded.
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