TheBadPlaceyahoo news | Calls to Regulate Smart Glasses Are Officially Deafening
Members of the U.S. Senate aren’t the only ones demanding answers about Meta’s rumored plan to embed facial‑recognition technology in its Ray‑Ban smart glasses. Earlier this week more than 60 U.S. civil‑society organizations signed a joint letter addressed to Meta, its partner EssilorLuxottica (the maker of Ray‑Bans), the White House, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, asking for full disclosure of any such plans and their associated risks.
The letter warns that “integrating facial recognition into Meta glasses is a dangerous and reckless plan that will harm both users and the entire public,” regardless of consent, user status or awareness. It cites the potential for the technology to empower scammers, stalkers, blackmailers, child abusers and authoritarian regimes, and to generate unnecessary national‑security threats. This is the latest push for clarity; last month U.S. senators also wrote to CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting confirmation of whether the feature exists and what privacy safeguards have been considered. Although Meta has not confirmed any work on facial‑recognition, a February New York Times report said the company briefed employees about a plan to roll it out “during a dynamic political environment where many civil‑society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”
Meta has remained silent on the privacy implications, even as other controversies have emerged—most notably allegations that the firm used sensitive videos from Ray‑Ban users, including footage containing nudity and credit‑card information, to train its AI, with the content reviewed by human contractors. With mounting pressure from legislators, advocacy groups and the public, many observers doubt that Meta can continue to stay quiet for much longer, and some predict that Mark Zuckerberg could soon be called before regulators to answer for the company’s questionable business practices.
Read more: https://gizmodo.com/calls-to-regulate-smart-glasses-are-officially-deafening-2000741499
