Meta says it’s improving the ability of its smart glasses to detect if the privacy LED has been tampered with and disable the camera, via a mandatory firmware update.
All of Meta’s smart glasses feature a white LED on the front, at the end of one temple, which flashes when the wearer captures an image and pulses while they’re recording a video, livestreaming, or using Live AI.
Since the first-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses (meaning all the company’s glasses so far except for 2021’s Ray-Ban Stories) the LED has also included an ambient light sensor, which prevents the camera from operating if the owner tries to cover the LED, for example with black tape.
However, as veteran tech journalist Joanna Stern exposed in her reporting last month, a market has cropped up for physically taking the glasses apart and modifying them to remove the LED and sensor. Other easier-to-apply accessories available online, though far less subtle as they add noticeable bulk, can obscure the LED from certain angles.
Some owners have leveraged these services and products to record people without their consent, either to make social media video content, for reasons of personal perversion, or, in rare cases, to covertly record police and other authorities. And while Meta and EssilorLuxottica’s smart glasses continue to be one of the fastest-selling consumer tech hardware above $300 of all time, these non-consensual recordings have given them a bad name amongst segments of the population, with some branding them “pervert glasses” or “creep glasses” and even calling for them to be banned in law.
The privacy LED on Meta smart glasses.
Now, Meta says it’s “updating the glasses to disable the camera if they detect the LED was physically tampered with or destroyed”. This will arrive as a mandatory firmware update, and retroactively apply to glasses which have already been modified.
“No other kind of camera has done this and we’re proud to lead the industry forward”, Meta said in a prepared statement.
The company says it’s also removing ads and posts advertising smart glasses LED modification across Facebook and Instagram, alongside banning the accounts.
Meta even claims it’s taking legal action against people selling LED removal services, though it’s unclear on what grounds this action would be – and this may be a space where future government regulations are needed.
