The code reveals that Meta smart glasses can use “face print” tracking and raise privacy alarms

Meta has integrated facial recognition code into the software used by its smart glasses, according to it Investigation by WiredWhich he confirmed Electronic Frontier Foundation Threat Lab Thursday. Although the feature is not yet live for consumers, it is present in the Meta AI smartphone app.

Wired reported that Meta quietly added facial recognition components as early as January via multiple updates to its companion Meta AI app — which has been downloaded more than 50 million times. The feature, under the internal label “NameTag”, will allow… Meta smart glasses Recognizes any person in sight and notifies the wearer of information about that person.

When the feature is activated, Wired reported, “it will convert the faces captured by the Meta Glasses into unique biometric signatures, commonly known as faceprints, and scan each one against the faceprints stored on the user’s phone.”

In other words, NameTag will store biometric facial data in an embedded database structure that can compare new facial fingerprints with existing ones. The database is designed to live on the user’s phone but is configured to receive updates from Meta.

The EFF says the code was verified through static analysis and argues that Meta is moving forward with surveillance-capable glasses in a way that normalizes biometric tracking without people’s consent.

“Despite billions of reasons not to, Meta appears to have created the ability to turn its agents into a distributed surveillance machine,” EFF chief technologist Cooper Quentin said. He said in his article. “This is just another reason to think twice before purchasing or using Meta’s observation glasses.”

Earlier this yearThe New York Times reported that Meta was working on these types of features but had not officially announced plans to roll them out.

At the time, it was CNET smart glasses and XR expert Scott Stein He wrote about his fears that “meta-facial recognition is not a matter of ‘if’, but of ‘when'”, and that the technology will need to be “treated with strict measures of control and responsibility”.

Not long afterward, Stein spoke with Meta about it Privacy policies for smart glasses They left “frustrated and uncertain” due to the lack of clear guidelines and guardrails.

A new chapter in the Meta privacy scandals

In an email to CNET, Meta spokesman Ryan Daniels said the code is merely evidence of exploration of the technology and that no final decisions have been made to release it to consumers.

“If we decide to put something out there, we will take a thoughtful approach and do so with full transparency,” Daniels wrote. “One decision we can be clear about is that we are not building a centralized facial database.”

The company’s communications team as well Replies to X are postedcomplaining that the Wired article pushed Meta’s response too far.

This latest revelation comes years after Meta automatically scanned faces in every photo uploaded to Facebook to power it Tag suggestions tool. After legal backlash, Meta agreed to pay $650 million to settle a lawsuit Alleged violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, which requires companies to obtain explicit consent before capturing biometric data such as facial scans. In 2021, the tech giant shut down its platform-wide facial recognition system and deleted the facial data of more than a billion people.

Facial recognition in the smart glasses race

Meta has partnered with companies like Ray-Ban and Oakley to produce its smart glasses, but it faces competition. Google and Samsung Recently introduced Take them on the product category. Apple is reportedly moving away from virtual reality products like the Vision Pro to Augmented reality glasses It is developing, but such a product is not expected to be introduced until next year.

The flood of smart glasses renews controversy around them Privacy and security around these devices. The glasses can record video and audio, largely without bystanders noticing — and thus without their consent — undermining anonymity in public spaces.

Digital rights experts have long expressed concern about facial recognition technology because biometric data could be exploited by governments to track dissidents or used by companies to spy on consumers. It can also be used for public harassment, defamation, or leaked in data breaches.

If facial recognition software is enabled, it raises additional concerns about what sensitive data is stored and how it is used.