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Meta aims to introduce facial recognition to its smart glasses while its biggest critics are distracted, according to a report from The New York Times. In an in
by blakesterz 7mo ago
Meta aims to introduce facial recognition to its smart glasses while its biggest critics are distracted, according to a report from The New York Times. In an internal document reviewed by The Times, Meta says it will launch the feature “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.”
https://www.theverge.com/tech/878725/meta-facial-recognition-smart-glasses-name-tag-privacy-advoates https://www.theverge.com/tech/878725/meta-facial-recognition...
- wongarsu 7mo agoThat shouldn't be too difficult with the current US administration. Maybe another reason Bezos and Trump get along so well
- pluc 7mo agoThey better invest in frame designs too cause as soon as they're recognizable they're gonna get slapped off faces real quick
- thewebguyd 7mo agoMaybe we'll see the revival of the term "glasshole"
- jim33442 7mo agoThe Google glasses were asking to be bullied, but the Meta ones are cooler looking
- hackyhacky 7mo agoNew makeup, old pig
- quantified 7mo agoWe are seeing it. Everyone can help by using it.
- pesus 7mo agoSometimes analog solutions are the most effective against digital problems.
- hdjrudni 7mo agoYou mean record onto tape?
- kjnnplll 7mo ago[dead]
- DonHopkins 7mo agoBut the hand is composed of digits. You could start by pointing at them and laughing, then flipping them off, then holding your hand up to their face so they can talk to it.
- hightrix 7mo agoAre there any less obviously aggressive tactics we can use? Wear something that is blinding to the cameras, or something else to obfuscate?
- pluc 7mo agoSlapping a pair of glasses that are recording you, processing your face, sending biometrics and images back to one of the worst privacy offenders on the planet off of the face of someone who is willingly doing all that without asking your permission is a perfectly appropriate reaction. Put your shoulder into it. I'd rather we normalize that than adversarial fashion.. but that's probably what you were looking for.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- hightrix 7mo agoWhile I'd like to agree with you, and do in some cases, there are many cases where this just isn't a feasible approach. For example, a peer coworker has a pair of these. I just don't interact with her while she is wearing them. If my boss were to get a pair there is no way I can justify slapping them off his face.
- listeria 7mo agoHave you tried bringing it up with HR? If you explain why you try to avoid her while she's wearing them, they might ask her to stop wearing them to work. Meta's own guidelines[1] say that you should "Power off in private spaces." You can't always tell if you're being recorded since they can be tampered with to disable the LED. And from what I gather, the LED only serves to indicate of video recording, and not necessarily audio. [1]: https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/privacy/ https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/privacy/
- miki123211 7mo agoThey're incredibly popular in the blind community, and for good reason. I think even the political activists will be extremely divided on this one. You have privacy on one hand, accessibility and a genuinely life-changing technology on the other.
- nanobuilds 7mo agoThe long term goal might indeed be unrecognizable designs. Perhaps augmented reality contact lens. It will take a long time but people tend to slowly get used to giving more and more of their privacy away. Mojo Vision made a prototype of this. It's more the display but you can imagine the camera being somewhere else and streaming to the lens in an unobstructed way.
- testbjjl 7mo agoWhile I don’t disagree, with the sentiment, is this not incitement of violence?
- yunnpp 7mo agoYes. The company is inciting violent behaviour with socially disturbing products.
- testbjjl 7mo agoThe company is inciting violence. This can be said of anything. Violence is a choice, self defense is a right. Your “look what you made me do” defense might not go as you planned and feel like the wrong move when your rage dissolves. I remember when this place had fewer broken windows. Seems it’s becoming a ghetto.
- sershe 7mo agoI'm not the kind of person to wear those, but if I was and someone tried to slap them off me I might feel really threatened if you catch my drift. And since I won't be able to see too well, it will take some extra effort... Was that remaining movement the next punch, or death throes? Can't see too well, better safe than sorry!
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- esseph 7mo agoFor android users: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.pocketpc.ne...
- ViktorRay 7mo agoThe lack of self awareness is pretty fascinating.
- tty456 7mo agoThe individuals making these decisions are 100% aware of what they are doing. Driving for and implementing stuff like this is for profits, bonuses, and internal recognition.
- cyanydeez 7mo agoRight, this is socipathy, kleptocracy and pure madness that having more money than need generates.
- hsuduebc2 7mo agoAccurate description of META.
- testbjjl 7mo agoSuck has made his mind up about which side he’s on with his money. I recall a time when people on the Forbes list were quietly political.
- ambicapter 7mo agoWhat do you mean? They're fully aware this would be received poorly by "certain groups" and are applying all that highly-praised brain power to getting around that undesirable issue to keep their RSUs growing.
- xg15 7mo agocare-less people, etc...
- thatguy0900 7mo agoThis is unironically what happens when society rewards sociopaths
- Forgeties79 7mo agoWhy is it always this accusatory “while you were distracted”-style rhetoric? Who has been distracted from Facebook’s shenanigans? Who are they talking about? Is it me? Because I can tell you I have certainly not been distracted on that front. Am I supposed to feel guilty? Am I supposed to hold somebody accountable who should’ve been paying attention? I do actually understand why it’s done, but I just find it very grating and if your goal is to actually raise awareness, shaming people is generally not the way to go about it. Also the classic “we can walk and chew bubblegum at the same time” thing
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- GuinansEyebrows 7mo agointeresting (respectfully!) take that the "while you were distracted" rhetoric is coming from investigative journalists/commenters - i read this more as Meta's admission that they're betting on critics being distracted than an admonition by outside observers. it's probably easier to sneak up on a person to rob them when it's foggy; that's not victim blaming.
- tokioyoyo 7mo agoLess attention on you, less negative press, better sales.
- LambdaComplex 7mo agoI feel the same way every time I read that someone did something "quietly" in a headline.
- ghurtado 7mo agoI usually hate this kind of click bait, but I think in this case it's warranted, since their explicit policy was to do this "while they are distracted". Verbatim.
- lamontcg 7mo agoThis is Meta claiming in their internal communications that they plan on doing it while people are distracted with other concerns. It isn't really "rhetoric", they're talking like they believe this actually happens, this is strategy. And I tend to agree with them that things like attention and political capital are ultimately finite resources. I've found that the "we can do two things" and "we can walk and chew bubblegum" line of argument to be simplistic and just wrong (and pretty incredibly patronizing). I think the world works exactly the way Meta thinks that it does here. It might blow up and turn into a Streisand effect, but more often than not this kind of strategy works. Much like how people think they can multitask and talk on the phone and drive at the same time and every scientific measure of it shows that they really can't.
- koolala 7mo agoIt could auto blur faces... but people wouldn't use that feature.
- Arcuru 7mo agoThe actual source article: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/technology/meta-facial-recognition-smart-glasses.html https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/technology/meta-facial-re...
- Waterluvian 7mo agoI really cannot comprehend how someone can work for a company like that and maintain possession of a soul. I feel like the older I’m getting, the further away I am from understanding.
- dwayne_dibley 7mo agoThe same can be said about those working in the weapons industry etc.
- devin 7mo agoThe soulless kids who used to go into finance joined tech and are inspired by the current crop of tech billionaires in the way that their predecessors were inspired by Gordon Gecko.
- esseph 7mo ago> The soulless kids who used to go into finance joined tech and are inspired by the current crop of tech billionaires in the way that their predecessors were inspired by Gordon Gecko. Yep. Once a couple of nerds got rich, it's what that segment pointed their money finders at. Advertising / marketing went with them. It was a much nicer place for everyone when it was just the nerds who "had love for the game" :(
- refulgentis 7mo agoI'm 37, single, no family or extended family b/c of an...interesting...childhood. Every day I understand more and more that I have something really priceless and rare, complete luxury of choice, and 99% of people don't. (as with all things, it has its downside: nothing matters!) I refused to get "stuck" in my hometown, which motivated me from college dropout to FAANG. Once I got there, it was novel to me that even rich people get "stuck" due to inability to imagine losing status, and also responsiblities that come with obvious, healthy, lifestyle choices (i.e. marriage and kids)
- deaux 7mo agoOf course they have a choice, just like you do. You're making excuses for them that they don't need. They're actively choosing the "work at Meta and maintain lifestyle" rather than "don't work at Meta and maybe slightly change lifestyle". Every day, they make that choice. Take all the people who get and got laid off. Their life goes on. > responsiblities that come with obvious, healthy, lifestyle choices (i.e. marriage and kids) 99.9999% of people in the world who are married with kids, don't work at Meta.
- rudhdb773b 7mo agoI never understand why a company would put something like this in writing. I worked at a midsize financial company before and whenever there was something even approaching a legal or ethical grey area, we'd pick up the phone and say come to my office to talk, and then you'd close the door. We weren't doing anything nearly as nefarious as Meta, yet everyone was always aware that email and phone conversations were recorded and archived.
- godelski 7mo agoSame reason project 2025 was put in writing. When you have large organizations you need to distribute communication. It's really just about cooperation and logistics
- lovich 7mo ago>I never understand why a company would put something like this in writing. Do you believe these companies and individuals will ever see consequences for putting this in writing? I don't think they will, and I assume they believe the same based on their actions. Why waste time being "moral" when you don't lose anything for being immoral and stand to gain something if your gamble wins? I mean, there's a whole philosophical outlook about being a good person and some people just want to do without needing enforcement, but those people also dont tend to become one of the largest corporations on the planet.
- gherkinnn 7mo agoMaybe, just maybe, Meta bosses aren't even aware that what they're doing is nefarious. Just business as usual. Now, one wonders what constitutes "nefarious" or a grey zone worth hiding in their minds.
- no_wizard 7mo ago>We weren't doing anything nearly as nefarious But still nefarious. Thats kinda messed up, to be honest.
- conception 7mo agoWhen you have no fear about repercussions of being caught. Case in point, nothing will happen about this.
- godelski 7mo agoI'm curious how the engineers justify this. I'm generally interested. Please don't respond with how you think people justify, I want to hear the actual reasons. I'm tired of speculative responses to questions like these. Please do share if you've had to deal with similar situations too. And feel free to respond with green accounts. I legitimately want to understand why this happens. Not why from management, why from engineers.
- shigawire 7mo agoProbably a mix of naivety, ignorance, and apathy. Most people are just trying to get through their day and not worry about ethical questions. I'd say that's terrible, but I'm not confident I'd be a better person if my livelihood depended on doing that sort of work, though I hope I'd be better.