Meta’s smart glasses are seeing a lot more than expected

Glasses are typically used to help you see the world. But Meta’s new smart glasses allegedly help the world see you, instead.

The tech giant is facing a class action lawsuit over privacy concerns relating to its new smart glasses, after an investigation revealed human workers were reviewing extremely…personal footage captured by users’ devices.

Here’s what happened

Late last month, two Swedish newspapers reported that some video captured by Meta’s glasses is being routed to a subcontractor in Kenya, where human workers review and label clips to train Meta’s AI models.

• This footage sometimes included highly sensitive moments like people using the bathroom, having sex, or viewing pornography, according to the investigation.
• And while the company said it blurs faces in the footage, sources who spoke to the Swedish outlets say the system doesn’t always work.

Given that Meta’s chosen slogan for its glasses is “Designed for privacy, controlled by you,” the investigation’s claims have upset customers and regulators alike.

Two plaintiffs (from California and New Jersey) filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Meta and its glasses partner, Luxottica of America, of privacy violations relating to the new claims, while UK regulators have also opened an investigation into the issue.

Meta’s side of the story: The tech giant has confirmed that data from its smart glasses can be shared with human contractors in some cases, but says that “unless users choose to share media they've captured with Meta or others, that media stays on the user's device.”

Smart glasses users are required to share media with Meta in order to access advanced features like cloud storage, direct social sharing, and AI-powered tools including Live AI and real-time translation.

Zoom out: As smart glasses and other “luxury surveillance” like smart speakers continue to grow in popularity, so too have concerns about their potential for misuse via filming or monitoring people without consent.