Think Twice Before Buying or Using Meta's Ray-Bans

"The photos and videos you record with most smartglasses will likely be stored online at some point in the process. On Meta's offerings, unless you are livestreaming, media you capture when you press the camera button is kept on the glasses until you import them onto your phone, but media is imported automatically by default into the Meta AI mobile app, which is required to set up the glasses."

"You can't use any AI features locally on the glasses. So anytime you use AI features, like when you say, 'Hey Meta, start recording,' the footage is fed to Meta. You can use the glasses without the Meta AI app entirely, but considering you can't easily download footage from the glasses to your phone without it, most people will likely use the app."

"Some videos are fed to Meta for AI training, and we know at least in some cases that those videos go through human review. An investigation by Swedish newspapers found that workers were reviewing and annotating camera footage, which includes all sorts of sensitive videos, including nudity, sex, and going to the bathroom."

Smart glasses technology has evolved from niche products to mainstream consumer devices over the past year, with Meta's Ray-Ban Display Glasses and Oakley's Meta Glasses leading adoption. However, significant privacy concerns accompany this shift. Most smart glasses store captured photos and videos online, with Meta's devices automatically importing media into the Meta AI mobile app by default. AI features require footage to be sent to Meta's servers, and some videos are used for AI training purposes involving human review. Investigations revealed workers reviewing sensitive footage including nudity and intimate moments. Users should carefully consider data storage practices, automatic uploads, and how their personal recordings may be used before purchasing smart glasses.

Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation