Bug turns one of the biggest fears about Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses into reality

Meta has previously tried to assuage concerns by pointing to the fact that its glasses light up when recording audio or video. But the bug this week shows that even with this light activated, it’s possible for the smart glasses to record inadvertently.

Meta’s brief statement does little to alleviate those worries. Meanwhile, the bug lends some credence to reports and trepidation that Ray-Ban Metas are creating recordings without subjects’ knowledge.

Fears brought to life

Meta has been steadfast in its push for gadgets that put microphones and cameras in people’s homes and on their faces, while battling fears that the devices could be used for nonconsensual recordings.

Contractors for Sama, a data annotation company headquartered in Kenya, say they have viewed footage that was shot by Ray-Ban Metas, seemingly without the wearer or other people in the video knowing. A report by Swedish journalists earlier this year interviewed over 30 Sama workers and pointed to a “stream of privacy-sensitive data that is fed straight into the tech giant’s systems,” per a machine translation, resulting in workers viewing private activities, like a glasses owner’s partner coming out of a bathroom naked.

“Meta has that type of content in its databases. People can record themselves in the wrong way and not even know what they are recording,” the report quoted an anonymous Sama employee as saying.

In the US, the report led to a lawsuit seeking class action certification [PDF] and an investigation from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In August, Meta updated its smart glasses so that they won’t record if the glasses’ indicator light is covered up. Some potential privacy violations using Ray-Ban Metas, however, hinge on a bad human actor. But this most recent glitch, as well as the reports from the Sama workers, highlights the possibility for well-meaning users to inadvertently record stuff, too.

The privacy shortcomings of Ray-Ban Meta and other smart glasses have raised concerns about being clandestinely recorded in public and about the creation of apps for detecting the smart glasses. The privacy concerns have also led to proposed legislation, including in Norway, which is considering a temporary ban.

Glasses like Ray-Ban Metas have the potential to intentionally or unintentionally violate people’s privacy, whether through technical problems, sharing data without user consent, or poor design. Without further constraints, one of the biggest drawbacks to devices like Ray-Ban Metas will continue to be the fear of nonconsensual recording, a fear that this week’s bug turned into a reality.