DON’T BE A GLASSHOLE: Mark Zuckerberg’s Court Appearance Proves Smart Glasses are Problematic.

Arriving at a social media addiction trial in Los Angeles last week, Mark Zuckerberg and his legal team were donning stylish Meta Ray-Bans. The one problem? You’re not allowed to wear smart glasses in court.

The judge “upbraided the Meta team”, according to tech journalist Jacob Ward, who was in the courtroom at the time. He called it “an extraordinary misstep”.

But not everyone was convinced it was a mistake: SFGate called it “supremely odd product placement” while Gizmodo reckons Zuckerberg figured there’s “no such thing as bad press”.

Judge Carolyn Kuhl warned the Los Angeles Superior Court last week that anyone recording proceedings will be held in contempt of court. “If you have done that, you must delete that, or you will be held in contempt of the court,” the judge said. “This is very serious.”

Photography is generally banned in L.A. County’s Superior Court. “Judicial officers have the discretion to place limitations on video recording and photography in their courtroom,” a court spokesperson tells CBS News.

In June of 2019, Christine Rosen of Commentary wrote a lengthy article titled “What Is To Be Done About Facebook?”, in which she noted that “From the company’s earliest days, Facebook’s leaders have adopted a remarkably consistent approach to the exposure of problems and missteps: a mercenary variation of the ‘ask for forgiveness, not permission’ strategy.” Wearing smart glasses in court is entirely consistent with that worldview.