Meta wants you to stop recording others secretly with its smart glasses. The company is rolling out a software update to fix a loophole that allowed people to cover the notification LED and keep on recording videos.
Meta is fixing the LED notification loophole
Covering the LED notification after you started the recording now instantly disables the camera. | Image by Meta
Meta already rolled out several updates to address privacy concerns. The company tweaked the software to stop people from covering the LED notification while recording videos. Some people found a workaround.
The camera won't start recording if the LED is blocked, but some people try to bypass this by starting a recording and then covering it up. A fix for this is starting to roll out – the camera will now stop working if the light is covered during a recording.
A software update is currently rolling out to fix this loophole. According to Alex Himel, Meta's VP of AR, after the update, the camera will instantly stop working if the LED is covered during recording.
Would you buy and use a pair of Meta smart glasses?
Not the first privacy issue with Meta glasses
Border Patrol unit wearing Meta's Ray Ban smart glasses. | Image by Liz Myers
Digging deeper, Wired then discovered that Meta had a contract with a government contractor to develop that aforementioned facial recognition feature.
Earlier this month, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency had to issue a memo to remind its employees that using Meta glasses on the job is strictly prohibited. The memo was prompted by several videos showing ICE and Border Patrol agents recording with Meta glasses during raids and other strategic operations.
Read more news about Meta and its smart glasses here:
Meta wants everyone to know how their glasses work.
The educational billboard in Los Angeles. | Image by Meta
Meta is launching an educational ad campaign aimed at explaining how the glasses work and what the LED notifications mean.
The first billboard is already up in Los Angeles, showing a pair of Meta glasses with the LED notification light active. The text below reads, "The camera lets you capture the moment. The light lets everyone around you know when you do."
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 for someone's gallery. Only a tiny minority of people try to get around these protections, and the fact they have to go to these lengths shows our efforts are working.
- Alex Himel, Meta's VP of AR
The URL in the billboard links to a privacy page on Meta's product website. Similar billboards and videos will soon appear in other cities as well, according to a company's spokesperson. Meta will also continue to work on privacy features, Himel says.
The Google Glass fiasco all over again?
Remember Google Glass? Huge potential but a disaster in the end. | Image by Wikipedia
Some of you may remember the first iteration of Google Glass. The backlash was so massive that Google had to cancel the project altogether and move it out of the consumer's market.
The same seems to be happening with Meta and its smart glasses. However, I don't see Zuckerberg and company abandoning the project anytime soon.
Do you think the company is doing enough to address all the privacy concerns? Would you buy and use Meta's smart glasses?
Six-month unlimited plan is now 57% off
$90
$210
$120 off (57%)
Mint Mobile is now allowing you to get whichever plan you like for either three, six, or 12 months for just $15/mo. If you go for the six-month unlimited service, for instance, you'll now have to pay just $90 upfront instead of $210.
Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: