Meta's smart glasses now stop recording if light is covered
What's the story
Meta has announced an update for its AI-powered smart glasses, aimed at addressing a privacy loophole. The issue allowed users to continue recording even after covering the front-facing LED light. Alex Himel, Meta's VP of Augmented Reality, confirmed the fix in a post on Threads, stating that "the camera will now stop working if the light is covered during a recording."
Loophole details
Users could trick the camera into recording
Meta's smart glasses already deactivate their built-in cameras when the LED capture light is covered. The light blinks to indicate that recording or capturing a picture is in progress.
However, some users discovered that they could circumvent these measures by covering the LED light after starting a recording session.
This latest update comes just over a month after Meta updated its glasses to turn off the camera when users physically tamper with the capture light.
Privacy measures
Smart glasses have been at the center of controversy
Meta's smart glasses have been at the center of privacy and harassment concerns.
Some users were reportedly recording others without their consent or filming "pranks" on random bystanders.
These issues, along with a report about Meta adding facial recognition feature, have led to a global backlash against the smart glasses.
In response, Himel said, "We're going to keep rolling out updates like this to make sure the capture LED can reliably alert bystanders when photos or videos are being captured."
Campaign launch
Meta has launched an awareness campaign about the LED light
To counter the backlash, Meta has launched an awareness campaign about its LED capture light. The campaign is being run in communities where glasses sales are popular.
One billboard in Los Angeles shows Meta's smart glasses with a caption, "The camera lets you capture the moment. The light lets everyone around you know when you do."
A video by Meta also explains the capture LED "signals when the glasses are capturing photos and videos," and "no light" means "no capture."