The Rise of the Ray-Ban Meta Creep
Other governments have taken note of the privacy implications of wearable devices like Meta’s glasses, raising concerns about the more advanced capabilities they may have in the near future. On Tuesday, Democratic Senators Ron Wyden, Ed Markey and Jeff Merkley sent an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s announced plans to integrate facial recognition technology into these devices.
“Given Meta’s vast data collections, its smart glasses could capture images of thousands of people without their knowledge or consent, then instantly link those faces to names, workplaces, or personal profiles, creating serious risks of stalking, stalking, and targeted intimidation,” the lawmakers wrote. They noted “how easily real-time identification technologies can be repurposed to discourage political expression, target vulnerable communities, and deter legal dissent.” The trio asked Meta to detail its biometric data practices and explain how it could hope to obtain “express and affirmative consent” from every viewer whose face was captured through a user’s glasses.
Meanwhile, communities are organizing to protect themselves from harassment by so-called pickup artists wearing Meta glasses. Earlier this month, an editor posted on a forum for residents of Vancouver, British Columbia, that a man frequented the downtown nightclub district at night to record, via smart glasses, his techniques for chatting with women. “In many of his videos, the women are very uncomfortable and clearly reject his advances and say no,” the editor wrote. The videos appear on the man’s Instagram account, @vibrophone, which has some 12,000 followers, identifies him by the first name Sherif and introduces him as a “rizz” trainer. Other videos show him “rolling up” the women he encounters, lifting them horizontally to his chest like dumbbells. (The account owner did not respond to a request for comment.)
On several Reddit threads, Vancouver residents have shared their frustration that Sherif might be monetizing his content, although it’s unclear whether he is doing so. One goal of these channels appears to be to attract brand cross-promotion opportunities: Kaghazi, for example, has a link on his profile to an AI “dating assistant” app, while John offers a promotional code for the nicotine product Nic Nac.
One woman, who spoke with WIRED on the condition of anonymity so he wouldn’t have her personal information, says Sherif approached her near an arts and recreation center last fall.
After stopping, he asked her, “Who let the dogs out?” He repeated the question when she expressed confusion. “And as I paused again, he made that little hand motion that people do to mean ‘go on’ and said, ‘Who, who, who?’ “, she said. “I laughed a little and kept walking. I’m a millennial, I obviously know this song, but the interaction was so cheesy I just passed out. I remember noticing he had these camera glasses on and thinking ‘Oh, he probably just filmed that.'”
Later, she saw the recent Reddit posts about her. Even though he hasn’t uploaded a video of her, she is still bothered by the other Meta Ray-Ban clips. “They seem predatory,” she said. “I have no expectation of privacy when I’m in public. But if a person approaches strangers with a hidden camera and interacts with them without revealing that they are filming for content, that’s a problem.”
