Meta tests smart glasses with defense contractor’s facial recognition software
Meta is reportedly testing its smart glasses integrated with facial recognition software developed by a defense contractor. The combination would allow the glasses to identify people in real time using their faces.
Why this matters: This is what makes always-on wearable cameras a different kind of threat. Glasses do not look like surveillance equipment. People wear them on the train, at school, in a bar. Add real-time facial recognition from a defense contractor and you have a tool that can identify strangers on sight, silently, without their knowledge. That is not a feature. That is a power most governments do not give their own police without a warrant. The fact that it is being tested now matters. Whatever ships later usually starts here.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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