A new app alerts you if someone nearby is wearing smart glasses | TechCrunch

"One of the chief problems with "luxury surveillance" devices, like smart glasses with baked-in video recording cameras, is that they often look indistinguishable from regular eyewear, meaning you might be recorded without knowing it. But now there is an app that can detect and alert you when someone nearby is wearing smart glasses, or potentially other always-recording tech."

"Yves Jeanrenaud, who made the app, first spoke to 404 Media about the project and said he was in part inspired to make Nearby Glasses after reading the independent publication's reporting into wearable surveillance devices, including how Meta's Ray-Bans smart glasses have been used in immigration raids and to film and harass sex workers."

"Jeanrenaud told TechCrunch in an email that his motivation came from "witnessing the sheer scale and inhumane nature of the abuse these smart glasses are involved in." Jeanrenaud also cited Meta's decision to implement face recognition as a default feature in its smart glasses, "which I consider to be a huge floodgate pushed open for all kinds of privacy-invasive behaviour.""

Smart glasses with built-in cameras pose privacy risks because they resemble regular eyewear, enabling covert recording without consent. Nearby Glasses, an Android app, scans for Bluetooth signals from wearable devices like Meta's Ray-Bans and Snap glasses to alert users of nearby recording technology. Creator Yves Jeanrenaud developed the app in response to documented misuse of smart glasses in immigration raids and harassment of sex workers. He views smart glasses as privacy-invasive technology, particularly criticizing Meta's implementation of face recognition as a default feature. The app identifies devices by detecting manufacturer-specific Bluetooth identifiers and notifies users when such devices are detected nearby.

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