How to Tell if Someone Is Filming You With Smart Glasses
Smart Glasses are not yet truly ubiquitous. However, Meta has an ace up his sleeve: the most sold Meta Ray-Bans, which are currently the subject of a lawsuit over privacy concerns. It turns out that they can very easily capture photos and videos of unsuspecting passers-by without the knowledge of third parties. Swedish media reported that some of the images captured by these glasses, including sensitive content like nudity, were being reviewed by offshore Meta workers in Kenya.
Even beyond these concerns, smart glasses like Meta’s can secretly film people in public.
Let’s go back: Meta Ray-Ban look like a larger pair of normal black Ray-Ban Wayfarers, and the average person probably wouldn’t suspect that these frames contain a hidden camera.
When I told my friend about it, she was disgusted. “Ew,” she said. “Why does this exist?”
I have never owned a pair of smart glassesbut I saw them in the wild twice last year. Once, while riding the New York subway, I noticed a person sitting across from me wearing these frames.
The other time was when I struck up a conversation with a guy at a bar. It took a minute in the dimly lit room, but then I recognized the telltale signs of his smart glasses.
I was disturbed. For a moment, I felt like I was encountering an urban creature like a rat or a raccoon, and I didn’t know how to behave.
“Act naturally,” I told myself. He wasn’t recording me (I’m pretty sure), but I knew he might be.
Smart Glasses and Privacy Concerns
A large portion of the general public still doesn’t know anything about smart glasses, and that’s a major problem.
Some smartglass wearers exploit ignorance by harassing strangers and filming their reactions. Many of their victims are homeless people, service workers and women.
These glasses are not a niche product either. Meta has sold 7 million pairs of smart glasses in 2025. For a relatively low price (they start at $300), “manfluencers” and other content creators can buy a pair of Meta Ray-Bans and use them to record unwitting subjects.
Smart glasses can be used to monitor people who are participating in demonstrations or secretly record people in toilets and other public places. The privacy problem will only get worse if companies add facial recognition features to their smart glasses – and Meta would do just that. I plan to do just that.
It’s not always possible to stop someone from filming you in public without your consent. But you can make it harder for this new generation of “glass holes” to secretly film yourself. The first step is knowing how to identify the technology.
What do smart glasses look like?
Not all smart glasses are the same, and not all models have a camera. The vast majority of camera glasses currently available are produced by Meta.
The easiest way to identify a pair is to locate the indicator light, a small LED bulb that lights up when the wearer takes a photo or video.
CNET’s Scott Stein wears the second generation Meta Ray-Bans. Relative to the wearer, the camera is on the top left corner of the frames, while the LED light is on the top right.
According to Scott Stein, CNET editor-in-chief and wearable technology expert, “Each pair of smart glasses has its own type of indicator. And many smart glasses do different things. We don’t have a clear mental map of what to look for. That’s a big part of the problem.”
The Ray-Ban Meta have existed since 2021. (They were launched under the name Ray-Ban Stories.) A slimmer, second-generation model was introduced in 2023.
THE last iteration includes a small display built into one of the lenses, although from most angles this feature is only visible to the wearer.
All Ray-Ban Meta models have a relatively thick plastic frame with a camera lens located in the upper left corner of the frame (or upper right if facing the wearer). In the opposite corner is the LED light, which turns on automatically when the wearer is filming. It lights up when a photo is taken and flashes when recording a video.
To take a photo or record a video, the user presses the capture button located on the right arm of the glasses (near the LED light). The user can also use voice commands: “Hey Meta, take a photo” or “Hey Meta, take a video”.
Meta also produces glasses in partnership with Oakley. THE HSTN Model looks like a rounded version of Ray-Ban frames, with the camera and LED in the same place. But the Avant-garde The model looks more like wraparound glasses than glasses, and its camera and LED are in the center of the nose bridge.
CNET’s Vanessa Hand Orellana wearing Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses. The camera sits above its nose and the LED light is right above the camera.
In addition to the LED light is an audio signal: a clicking sound of the shutter can be heard when a photo is taken. However, these two clues are relatively subtle.
Even if you know the indicators on smart glasses, you may not know for sure if you’re being filmed. Outdoors in direct sunlight, it’s virtually impossible to detect when the recording light is on.
Smart glasses owners can also cover the LED with a sticker or modify the frame to turn off the light completely (although they aren’t supposed to do this). And Amazon sells pairs of pinhole glasses, which seem tailor-made for people to secretly record people.
The future of smart glasses is already here
Smart glasses are a relatively new technology with a lot of potential. They can be useful for visually impaired people. They allow artists, woodworkers, chefs and other creatives to capture images while their hands are busy.
But they can also be dangerous.
Unfortunately, few current laws regulate smart glasses and deter abusers. But as these devices become more common, social norms will develop and guide their use, just as social norms have developed for recording with phones.
By being able to recognize smart glasses in public, you reduce the chances of pranksters and bad actors taking advantage of you. You are helping to shape this emerging technology, to define what it can – and cannot – do.
