Meta Pushes Facial Recognition onto Smart Glasses Without User Notice

According to a Wired report, Meta has been quietly installing facial recognition software in its Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses for months. The feature, codenamed 'NameTag,' uses AI to identify people captured by the camera, alerting the wearer and storing faceprints locally on the user's phone.

Security researcher Cooper Quintin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that the feature could turn wearers into 'a distributed surveillance machine.' Meta installed the first component in January without notifying consumers. The company's internal strategy, as leaked to the New York Times, involved rolling out facial recognition during a 'dynamic political environment' to avoid backlash.

Over 70 organizations, including the ACLU, have demanded Meta halt the plan, calling it a 'serious threat to privacy and civil liberties.' Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels said the feature hasn't shipped and no final decision has been made, but the groundwork for millions of private face databases is already in place.