Facebook Smart Glasses face scrutiny over privacy concerns
But Mark Zuckerberg thinks they're here to stay
Facebook (now Meta), in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica, released Ray-Ban Stories last year, the company's first-ever smart glasses that let users to receive calls, listen to music, and capture photos and videos to publish online.
According to Facebook, these stylish glasses allow users to be more present with friends, family, and the world around them by allowing them to record moments or listen to music while keeping their phone in their pocket.
Last September, Ray-Ban Stories were released in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and in March of this year, Meta announced that Ray-Ban Stories will be released in four more countries - Spain, Austria, Belgium, and France.
While Mark Zuckerberg envisions these smart glasses as having a bright future, they have also drawn the attention of privacy watchdogs in many countries, because smart glasses record not just the individual who purchased them, but also many others who did not give permission to be filmed.
In a statement following their launch in Ireland, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) said it was "concerned about the means by which those captured in the videos and photos can receive notice they are being recorded."
While the glasses feature a white light that turns on when someone is shooting images or videos, many people may not see it, and it may not be enough.
In September, the Irish regulator urged Facebook to demonstrate that the LED indication light on its smart glasses is "an effective means " of alerting individuals that they were being filmed or photographed.
"While it is accepted that many devices including smart phones can record third party individuals, it is generally the case that the camera or the phone is visible as the device by which recording is happening, thereby putting those captured in the recordings on notice," the DPC said.
It also directed the firm to launch an education campaign to notify the public about how this new consumer product may lead to less obvious capturing of their images.
The Irish DPC said it shares the concerns of the Garante, Italy's data protection regulator, which also asked Facebook for information in September to assess the product's compliance with privacy regulations.
Meta and EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban's parent company, say they have done precisely that in recent months by airing commercials in newspapers and on the radio. Meta Ireland said that it will collaborate with the DPC to assist customers in understanding the product.
"This is ongoing work and we'll continue to consult with external experts on new features and updates we add to Ray-Ban Stories with a focus on how to strengthen the product's privacy and safety features and expand our user education," Meta says.
This week, as part of a report for the Sunday Times, journalist Valerie Flynn wore the glasses out for the day on the street, in a shopping mall, in a café, and several other locations and found that just a few people noticed she was wearing smart glasses.
Commenting on the privacy concerns surrounding Ray-Ban Stories, Simon Randall, CEO of video privacy and security company, Pimloc, said: "AI technology has helped us to make huge progress in the digital world but at the same time, we need to be mindful of people's privacy. If societies are to benefit fully from the power of visual AI, deployments must also protect people's rights to privacy."
"One clear way to do this is to use AI to anonymise people at source - so if there is a need to look closely at a particular individual then designated people can do that - but the ability to hoover up vast quantities of people's biometric data with all the risks that entails, can be limited."
Despite those concerns, Zuckerberg clearly believes smart glasses are here to stay. Later iterations, he believes, will be capable of far more than just recording and playing sounds.
Other companies, including Apple, Alphabet and Snap, are said to be working on similar glasses. Alphabet's previous attempt, Google Glass, failed because people found them "creepy", earning the wearers the epithet "glasshole".