Smart Glasses Sound Great, but There Are So Many Privacy Issues

With Meta’s new smart glasses being more hip and functional than ever, now might finally be the time for smart glasses to go mainstream. If that happens, millions of users will be graced with technology only before seen in James Bond films. If you were worried about your privacy before, wait until you’re doxxed in a matter of seconds.

1 Warped Speed Doxxing

How would you feel if a total stranger could take a photo of you as they walked by and instantly learn revealing information about you? As a couple of Harvard students demonstrated in September of 2024, this isn’t some dystopian capability; it’s a reality.

These students turned Meta’s smart glasses into an instantaneous dox machine. To do so, they livestreamed the video taken with the glasses to Instagram. Then, a computer program scanned the stream and identified those captured using AI facial recognition technology. These identified faces were then run through public databases to find everything from addresses to phone numbers and social media accounts.

To be fair, you don’t need smart glasses to dox someone; however, they are ideal. What makes smart glasses so effective is that they are covert and always on your face. It’s never been so easy to take a photo of a stranger in a split second without being noticed.

2 Weak Built-in Privacy Features

When Meta boasts about its smart glasses privacy features, it mostly refers to features controlled by the wearer, not the unsuspecting bystanders being recorded. Meta gives users control over how much information it’s allowed to collect, who may use the glasses via its verified feature, and other privacy features. However, when protecting the privacy of anyone who isn’t wearing the glasses, Meta only offers one feature: an LED light that is supposed to light up when filming.

This small blinking light is supposed to alert those around you that the glasses are recording their surroundings. There are two issues with this feature. For one, people might not notice that the glasses are recording. But more importantly, videos and how-to articles already abound on ways to cover up the LED light. If covered, the light is supposed to prevent you from recording. However, stealthy users across the globe have already found various ways to circumvent this security feature.

3 Bystanders Have Not Opted-in

With smart glasses, taking a photo of someone you cross paths with has never been so easy. With a click of a button, a smart glasses wearer can record and take photos of anyone they cross paths with. To be fair, a user with a cell phone could do the same. The difference is how easy it is to take recordings as well as how easy it is to go unnoticed. With a phone or a camera, you are more visible and, as such, may be more likely to ask someone for their consent or be approached by someone who doesn’t want their photo taken. Going incognito and filming people against their will has never been easier with these glasses.

Even if you value the privacy of those around you, users have reported that the touchpad controls are too sensitive and that Meta’s glasses take photos even when a user doesn’t want to, like when they’re taking off their glasses or adjusting them.

Meta collects and stores untold amounts of data. Despite collecting so much sensitive data, it hasn’t done a great job protecting it. Data breaches take place every year, including in 2021, when 533 million users’ information was leaked. Meta has not proved itself to be an adequate protector of customer data. Before using Meta’s smart glasses, you need to ask yourself if you trust Meta with even more of your sensitive data, knowing full well that they are prone to hacks.

There is no doubt that Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are cooler than ever, but the more they are adopted, the less privacy you and I will have. Luckily, you can defend against this breach of privacy by scrubbing your personal information from public records websites.