Smart glasses with cameras are inherently a privacy nightmare, but Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses (and now they are the own brand) have a privacy light to indicate when that camera is active. To frustrate those trying to bypass that indicator, Meta’s smart glasses will now disable the camera entirely if the privacy light is destroyed or tampered with.
The privacy light on Meta Glasses and Ray-Ban Meta glasses is there to let everyone around you know that the camera is active, whether you’re taking a photo or a video. And, if that light is obscured, Meta’s glasses would block the camera until the light was uncovered.
For those who use these glasses for nefarious purposes (which, unfortunately, has become increasingly common), there were solutions to prevent the light from being seen. Some have even offered services to modify glasses for this purpose, as reported in. This includes physically modifying or even destroying that light, which would then allow the glasses to record without indicating it.
Smart glasses, particularly those from Meta, have seen intense public backlash in recent months, and Meta is now addressing this growing issue.
In a post todayMeta explains that a new update will disable the camera if the glasses detect that the privacy LED has been “tampered with or physically destroyed.”
The camera is disabled when people try to do this. Starting with our second generation of glasses, the camera automatically deactivates if we detect that the capture LED has been blocked. No photos or videos can be taken until we detect that the light is unlocked.
Since the introduction of this protection, we have seen some people go beyond the use of duct tape and make sophisticated efforts to modify or destroy the capture LED. We are continually improving our ability to detect tampering and are now updating the glasses to disable the camera if they detect that the LED has been physically tampered with or destroyed. No other type of camera has achieved this and we are proud to lead the industry.
Meta says it is also working to “remove ads, posts, and Marketplace listings” for services that modify smart glasses to disable the LED, with legal action against these people and/or companies on the table.
Meta also adds an email to 9to5Google that this update is actively rolling out now and is “required” for all users.
More about smart glasses:
Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Rags, blue skyand instagram
FTC: We use automatic affiliate links that generate income. Further.
