‘I kept catching people giving me dirty looks’: the backlash against Meta smart glasses
Meta's smart glasses are drawing public backlash after users who filmed ordinary moments were accused online of recording people without their consent. The devices, which are not obviously identifiable as cameras, have prompted accusations of surveillance and invasion of privacy in everyday settings.
Why this matters: The problem with a camera that does not look like a camera is that everyone around the person wearing it loses the ability to choose. You cannot consent to being filmed if you do not know filming is happening. Meta designed glasses that blend in, and that design choice has a cost that falls entirely on bystanders, not on the company. Social stigma is doing the work that product design and regulation have not. That is not a stable solution.
Who should care: General readers · Privacy officers · Policy
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