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Philly courtrooms are remaining friendly to the Luddites. At least with eyewear.
The Philadelphia court system is implementing a ban on all forms of smart or AI-integrated eyewear, the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania announced this week.
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The ban will go into effect Monday.
From then on, any eyewear with video and audio recording capability will be forbidden in all of the First Judicial District buildings, courthouses, or offices, even for people who have a prescription. Other devices with recording capabilities like cell phones and laptops continue to be allowed inside courtrooms but must be powered off and stowed away.
“Since these glasses are difficult to detect in courtrooms, it was determined they should be banned from the building,” said court spokesperson Martin O’Rourke.
The ban is meant to prevent potential witness and juror intimidation from threats of recording, O’Rourke said. It is unclear whether Philadelphia courts will implement extra screening measures to determine if a person’s glasses violate the rule.
If someone were caught attempting to bring smart eyewear into those spaces, they could be barred entry or removed from the building, and arrested and charged with criminal contempt, O’Rourke said. The only potential exceptions would be if a judge or court leadership had granted prior written permission to a smart glasses user.
Philadelphia is part of an early wave of court systems that are implementing smart eyewear bans, joining systems like those in Hawaii, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. While most courts already ban any kind of recording devices inside the courtrooms, it’s not yet common to have explicit bans on smart eyewear or to completely bar them from the building.
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