Meta smart glasses have received another firmware update aimed at addressing privacy concerns surrounding the camera recording light. It is the second such update of the summer, targeting individuals who disable or cover the camera indicator, and it is unlikely to be the last.
Alex Himel, head of Meta’s wearables division, announced the changes, stating that the company would keep rolling out updates to ensure the capture LED can reliably alert bystanders when photos or videos are being taken for someone’s gallery. The firmware update should apply automatically to Meta’s glasses, although the timing of software updates can be difficult to predict.
Closing loopholes in recording detection
The latest update specifically covers bad actors who begin recording on the glasses and then cover the light afterwards. That method was used to bypass the previous update, which deactivated camera recording if the LED light was physically tampered with. Bystander awareness of camera recording is only one concern; the other centres on how Meta handles photos and videos in the cloud on its own systems.
Meta is also running an advertising campaign designed to raise awareness of how the glasses work, with messaging that highlights the LED light that activates when the camera is in use. In practice, the light is not always noticed, particularly in bright daylight.
The wider smart glasses market
These privacy questions are not limited to Meta. Google and Samsung are preparing their own camera-enabled glasses for the autumn, Apple is expected to release its own next year, and numerous other companies are entering the AI glasses space quickly.
Possible future solutions include more obvious LED lights or hardware designs that better handle tampering. Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth has suggested that Meta may at some point produce glasses with no cameras at all.
The company’s next glasses-focused developer conference, Meta Connect, is scheduled for next month. Meta is likely to announce new smart glasses and new AI features, and its privacy issues are expected to feature prominently during the event.
