Potsdam bans smart glasses with cameras in swimming pools and saunas

The city councilors see a particular risk with these devices because they can be used inconspicuously. "These devices enable the inconspicuous creation of image and video recordings without affected persons being able to recognize it immediately," the motion further states. This risk distinguishes smart glasses from conventional mobile phones, which are more visible and easier to detect.

Torsten Wiegel, District Administrator for Youth, Education, Culture, and Sport in Potsdam, explained, according to Märkischer Allgemeiner and Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten, that there is already a ban on image recordings by media devices. The Potsdam Baths will add smart glasses to the list, he said literally: "there is already a ban on image recordings by media devices, the Potsdam Baths will add smart glasses to the list." This will adapt the existing ban to the new device class.

Implementation and Staff Training

In addition to amending the house and bathing rules, the resolution provides for training the staff of Potsdam's baths to recognize smart glasses. Training will enable employees to identify the devices and react appropriately to violations. This is intended to ensure that the ban can also be enforced in practice.

The specific consequences of a violation of the ban are not detailed in the resolution to date. Typically, house and bathing rules provide for expulsion from the bath or a ban from the premises in such cases. Details will have to be regulated in the revised version of the Potsdam Baths' house and bathing rules.

To date, Potsdam is one of the first cities in Germany to explicitly address smart glasses with cameras and microphones in baths and saunas in its house rules. The nationwide discussion about how to deal with smart glasses in public spaces is likely to gain further momentum from the Potsdam resolution.

Classification: Extension of Existing Rules

The resolution was distributed via the dpa news channel. No further information was provided in the available reports regarding the party political composition of the majority or the exact timing of the amendment to the house and bathing rules. Furthermore, according to the available information, the resolution contains no provisions for possible exceptions, for example for journalistic or official purposes.

Overall, the ban is understood as an extension of the existing protection against unauthorized image recordings in baths. By including it in the house and bathing rules, it is to be clarified that the unauthorized use of smart glasses can henceforth be considered a violation of the bath's regulations. Bathers should be able to rely on the fact that their stay in Potsdam's baths and saunas will not be secretly recorded.

The motion by the Green/Volt parliamentary group also refers to the special situation of wearing swimwear: anyone visiting a bath or sauna in swimwear is in a state of heightened vulnerability and must be able to rely on the fact that no recordings will be made that could later circulate without consent. This argument forms a focal point of the justification.

The Potsdam Baths, which operate several swimming pools and saunas in the city, will now formally adapt the house and bathing rules. Until then, the existing regulation on media devices will de facto apply, which in most cases would also apply to smart glasses. However, bathers should be prepared for the fact that smart glasses will be specifically monitored in the future.