{"id":135081,"date":"2026-10-19T22:03:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=135081"},"modified":"2026-10-19T22:03:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:03:56","slug":"punjab-govt-to-ban-spying-objects-equipped-with-hidden-cameras-recording-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/","title":{"rendered":"Punjab govt to ban &#8216;spying objects&#8217; equipped with hidden cameras, recording devices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California(National Times)- The Punjab government decided on Monday to ban objects equipped with hidden cameras and recording devices, including pens, eyeglasses and watches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A statement by the Punjab Home Department identified such objects as those \u201cused for spying\u201d and said the decision was taken to protect the citizens\u2019 privacy and personal information, particularly those of women and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The statement said \u201cstrict legal action\u201d would be taken against the use, purchase and sale of \u201cspying devices and covert electronic devices\u201d, further warning that the \u201cillegal use\u201d of objects equipped with hidden cameras would result in \u201csevere penalties\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The statement also mentioned that complaints had been received about the use of \u201cspying devices\u201d for \u201cillegal surveillance, harassment and blackmailing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Punjab Home Secretary Ahmad Javed Qazi told Dawn that a formal notification for the implementation of the ban would be issued in a few days. He explained that the announcement about the ban had been made prior to the issuance of the notification to give people some time to discard such items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amid concerns about the misuse of such devices, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has also been seized with a public interest petition that challenges the unregulated import and sale of camera and mic-equipped smart glasses, citing threats to people\u2019s privacy, dignity and national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meta in particular has faced pushback for its AI-powered smart glasses, with critics dubbing the eyewear as \u201cpervert glasses\u201d. And while it has not officially listed Pakistan as a market, the petitioner\u2019s counsel in the case before the LHC has contended that its glasses are openly sold online and in shops in Lahore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taking up the plea on Thursday, the LHC directed the federal government to forward a summary to the federal cabinet regarding the unregulated import and sale of smart glasses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California(National Times)- The Punjab government decided on Monday to ban objects equipped with hidden cameras and recording devices, including pens, eyeglasses and watches. A statement by the Punjab Home Department identified such objects as those \u201cused for spying\u201d and said the decision was taken to protect the citizens\u2019 privacy and personal information, particularly those of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Punjab govt to ban &#039;spying objects&#039; equipped with hidden cameras, recording devices - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Punjab govt to ban &#039;spying objects&#039; equipped with hidden cameras, recording devices - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"California(National Times)- The Punjab government decided on Monday to ban objects equipped with hidden cameras and recording devices, including pens, eyeglasses and watches. A statement by the Punjab Home Department identified such objects as those \u201cused for spying\u201d and said the decision was taken to protect the citizens\u2019 privacy and personal information, particularly those of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-19T17:03:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-19T17:03:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-670x370-16-21.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/\",\"name\":\"Punjab govt to ban 'spying objects' equipped with hidden cameras, recording devices - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-670x370-16-21.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-19T17:03:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-19T17:03:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-670x370-16-21.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-670x370-16-21.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Punjab govt to ban &#8216;spying objects&#8217; equipped with hidden cameras, recording devices\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Punjab govt to ban 'spying objects' equipped with hidden cameras, recording devices - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/135081\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Punjab govt to ban 'spying objects' equipped with hidden cameras, recording devices - Nation","og_description":"California(National Times)- The Punjab government decided on Monday to ban objects equipped with hidden cameras and recording devices, including pens, eyeglasses and watches. 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