No smart glasses, no cameras: Toronto venues rethink privacy on the dance floor | CBC News

Wiggle Room owner hopes to see more venues taking the step of banning smart glasses

A Toronto dance venue recently announced a policy banning smart glasses — a move that has been met with support online and sparked a broader conversation about privacy on the dance floor.

The ban at Wiggle Room, a club known for being music focused with a safe-space approach, is less about photography itself and more about whether people know when they are being recorded, says owner Takin Nateghi.

“It’s mostly a safety concern for our guests, for everybody really. It’s kind of sneaky to have a camera no one is aware of and that’s the main thing,” he said.

The issue is becoming increasingly relevant as wearable technology makes it possible to record without the person being filmed necessarily knowing it's happening, and smartphones make it easy to document public spaces.

When Nateghi, who is also a DJ, posted about the smart glasses policy online it was met with overwhelming support in the comments.

Wiggle Room has no plans to prohibit patrons from taking the occasional photo with their phones, Nateghi says.

“If someone wants to take a phone out and snap a photo for memory’s sake … why not?”

But another Toronto venue is taking this idea a step further, barring cameras entirely.

Complex19’s owners say they want to give people a place where they can dance, socialize and let loose without worrying about ending up in someone else’s social-media feed.

“One of our priorities here is the privacy of our audience,” said co-owner Bradley Blaylock. “We want to make sure people can have the time they want, and do what they want without the fear of getting their photos taken.”

The idea isn’t entirely new. Blaylock says no-camera policies are more common in parts of Europe and in Montreal, and they want to bring some of that culture to Toronto.