America is being watched. Not by a government decree, not by a hidden apparatus behind closed doors, but by millions of pairs of smart glasses already sold to ordinary consumers. Meta is rapidly expanding what these devices can do, including identifying strangers and pulling up information about them in real time. Some footage captured by these glasses has reportedly been routed to overseas workers for manual review, including sensitive, unintended recordings.

That is not the end of the story. Just weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security budgeted $7.5 million to develop smart glasses capable of real-time biometric facial recognition for use by immigration enforcement agents. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol officers now scan faces as they walk the streets.

That is where things stand now. You do not need to be recorded. You only need to know that you might be. That possibility alone is reshaping how people inhabit public space.

Panopticon went retail

When Americans think of surveillance, they reach for Orwell. The British author George Orwell imagined, in "1984," a world where Big Brother forced cameras into every room, every corridor. The gaze was imposed. The terror was explicit. But what Orwell could not have imagined was a world where the surveillance device would one day retail for $299 and people would line up to buy it.

French philosopher Michel Foucault understood something deeper. In his concept of the Panopticon, a prison designed so that inmates could always be watched but could never know when they were being watched, the actual gaze mattered less than the possibility of it. Knowing you could be watched is enough to change how you move, what you say, and who you become in public.

This is not an abstract concern. Nathan Freed Wessler of the American Civil Liberties Union told The New York Times that face recognition technology on American streets poses "a uniquely dire threat to the practical anonymity we all rely on." He is right. Because the question is no longer whether you are being watched. It is whether you know you could be.

What we are witnessing is not dystopian fiction. It is a present condition caused by a budget line item, playing out on the streets of every American city. But not every city is the same, and not every state has the same tools to respond.

Chicago 2045

While all public spaces in America have been unmade, there are still some places that inspire hope, and Chicago is one of them.

According to the "Central Area Plan 2045,” the first comprehensive downtown plan in more than 20 years, the city is projected to add $40 billion in construction investment, 160,000 new jobs and nearly 100,000 new residents by 2045. The Magnificent Mile is waking up again. Water Tower Place just announced a $170 million renovation this spring. For someone who has watched this city grow from the outside, the change is unmistakable.

But in this case, Chicago merits close examination for one specific reason: How it is responding to the increasing numbers of people wearing smart glasses in everyday public interactions.

Illinois is home to the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which has been in force since 2008. It requires written consent before biometric data can be collected, mandates disclosure of retention and deletion policies, and grants individuals the right to sue directly: $1,000 to $5,000 per violation. It is one of the strongest biometric privacy laws in the world, and it exists right here, in the state where this city stands. Chicago's sweeping vision for its own future makes it a test case for a question the entire country will have to answer.

Europe, Türkiye drew a line

As the situation in the U.S. continues to deteriorate, the European Union has begun to take action. Its Artificial Intelligence Act, with initial prohibitions taking effect in February 2025, bans real-time biometric identification in public spaces, prohibits social scoring systems and blocks the mass harvesting of facial data from the internet in the style of Clearview AI. Violations can cost a company up to 7% of global revenue. For Meta, at 2025 revenue levels, that figure comes to roughly $12 billion.

But the law's full teeth have not yet sunk in. Full enforcement for high-risk systems does not begin until August 2026, when police facial recognition rules, employment AI restrictions and biometric identification requirements all take effect simultaneously. There are also exceptions. Law enforcement can still use facial recognition to find missing persons or prevent terrorist attacks, and analyzing footage after the fact is classified as high-risk rather than banned outright. Legal experts have described the result as strong on paper but soft in practice, a law with genuine ambition and genuine gaps.

Türkiye is not waiting either. In November 2025, Parliament received a comprehensive AI regulation bill covering biometric data, high-risk systems and algorithmic accountability. Its architects described it not as an imitation of Europe but as a commitment to Türkiye's own digital independence. Europe drew a line. Ankara is drawing its own.

Chicago as starting point

The U.S. does not yet have a federal framework for this. It only has Illinois. But Illinois alone is not enough. BIPA was designed for employers and service providers, not for a stranger recording you on Michigan Avenue without your knowledge. Still, it offers a valuable starting point, proof that this kind of regulation is possible and that it can work.

Chicago is reimagining itself for the next 20 years. As the city plans its streets, storefronts and residents, it might also consider what kind of public space it wants to be. A place where anyone can walk freely, without wondering whether every glance, face and every conversation is being captured, analyzed and stored. That ambition deserves to be the ninth pillar of the Central Area Plan 2045, alongside housing, transit and arts.

Orwell's Big Brother watched you from the wall. Today's surveillance fits in a frame and costs less than a phone. The Panopticon is no longer a prison. It is a fashion accessory, and America bought it. But it can choose differently.