Meta sparks privacy fears after unveiling $299 Smart Glasses with hidden cameras: ‘You can now film everyone without them knowing’::These stylish shades may look like a regular pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers, but they’re actually Meta’s new Smart Glasses, complete with two tiny cameras and speakers implanted in the arms. The wearable tech was unveiled by Mark Zuckerberg Wednesday at the 2023 Meta Connect conference in Menlo Park, California, sparking a frenzy online.
They must have a different approach if Google glasses tried the same thing and failed miserably.
Partnering with Luxotica/RayBan to make it look more like normal frames will keep it from being as obvious for one.
I remember when Google glasses came out, people got assaulted for wearing them
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/san-francisco-woman-says-she-was-attacked-for-wearing-google-glass/
Her Facebook post 💀
“OMG so you’ll never believe this but… I got verbally and physically assaulted and robbed last night in the city, had things thrown at me because of some ---- Google Glass haters,” Slocum posted to Facebook.
The trick is now you can’t tell. Should it be illegal? Heck yes. Will it? “Hmm … technology, so important … innovation… privacy is dead anyway …. terrorism prevention… “
I think some cameras will “pop out” on your screen if you take a picture of them, right?
What a shitty future ahead of us. “Why are you taking a picture of me?!” “Because you’re wearing some suspicious glasses and I want to make sure that you are not recording me. Yup. There they are.”
Edit: well, after seeing some pictures, you can still tell that the cameras are there. But you have to be looking for them, which is still shitty.
That’s only if it sends infrared signal (for example it has night vision). I don’t think anything will show up with these.
Should it be illegal?
In the US, it’s been long held people do not have the “expectation of privacy” while out in public. One of the major issues that you’ve kinda touched on is how would it be enforced? So are you opposed to all forms of recording? Or is this more focused on a corporation potentially gathering data on people just by being in public where someone is wearing these?
IMO expectation of privacy is valid, but I believe people should also have the right to reasonably know if they’re being recorded. Recording people in public’s one thing if you have your phone out and are waving it around pointing it at people, but it’s a whole other thing if it’s a concealed or otherwise hidden recording device.
I think we’re getting to the point where “expectation of privacy” and “expectation of not being uploaded” need to be separated.
I fully agree with the idea that there should be no expectation of privacy in public, but I also don’t think filming some random person and posting them online should be carte blanche allowed.
Also in the US, there has been this bizarre expectation that “if it’s illegal, it will go away”, which is how we have this shitty War on (some) Drugs, “assault” “weapon” bans, and people thinking that we have to completely outlaw AI.
The tech is here. It’s going to be legal. We just have to figure out how to deal with it.
In the US, it’s been long held people do not have the “expectation of privacy” while out in public.
At the time it made sense. But laws need to change with the times. In the future you’ll have people wearing these shitty glasses with cameras all around you all day every day cataloging your movements and entering them into giant corporate data centers. Something needs to change.
Why should it be illegal?
It’s perfectly legal to photograph strangers in public. You’re in public you have no reasonable expectation of privacy.
I don’t see people assaulting CCTV cameras for instance.
Sure some weirdos might I use it for nefarious reasons but if it didn’t exist they would still be weirdos using something else.
Ok, now you and I are in a private place. Say, a bar. How do I know you’re not recording me?
People wear their glasses everywhere, including a variety of places where there is an expectation of privacy or where it is otherwise prohibited to record. Places where you would not be allowed to hold up your phone or camera and take photos.
The introduction of tech that makes it impossible to distinguish between someone minding their own business and someone recording you demands a change to the legal framework. It doesn’t make sense to hold to laws that were written for an entirely different scenario.
I don’t see people assaulting CCTV cameras for instance
I’ve seen that fairly often, particularly around political protests, and I’ve never seen a CCTV camera in a public bathroom, locker room, etc.
This tech is an inevitability and the potential legitimate uses are too valuable to ban it outright. But that doesn’t mean it should be treated exactly like a highly-visible camera or cell phone.
Pretty sure there are at least some limitations to that. In a public toilet for instance…
It’s perfectly legal to photograph strangers in public.
Depends on your legislation.
Here it’s the other way round.
How would banning these be enforceable though? They are only going to get more discreet, they will eventually appear completely indistinguishable from regular glasses.
There are certain ways to detect cameras, such as monitoring for infrared, but that would not work for all camera tech and could be hard to triangulate to exact people in crowded areas. There are also ways to detect electronic devices on a person but doing so could quickly become just as invasive in other ways.
You don’t need the ban to be perfect. Especially if you go after manufacturers, not users. Make it harder for people to do uncouth things. Accessibility is a huge driver of people using things. You might not be able to stop everyone, but you can stop the majority of people.
A simple solution would be to have a red led that displays when recording like video cameras
I predict a uptick in assault and battery when people start recognizing these and get sick of them being used in public
They say the hands never lie about the age, clearly they still can’t lie about the ai either.
They don’t really look “hidden” tbqh, the lenses are quite obvious.
I’m wondering if these could be useful to me as a prosopagnostic.
Try standing 10 ft / 3m away, in a crowd, and not actually expecting anybody to have them. Would you notice?
I guess, but by that standard having a mobile phone in a shirt pocket is also hidden.
