German nonprofit files criminal complaint over Meta smart glasses privacy

As privacy blowback grows over Meta's smart glasses, one nonprofit is taking matters into its own hands. German human rights group HateAid has filed a criminal complaint against Meta. It essentially argues that slapping discreet cameras on people's faces is, you know, maybe not a great idea.

HateAid claims that Meta's smart glasses breach German privacy laws: specifically, the Telecommunications, Digital Services and Data Protection Act. It argues that selling the devices is a criminal offense because of their covert recording capabilities.

The nonprofit also wants restrictions on where the glasses can record, similar to rules for dashcams and bodycams. The complaint targets Meta, eyewear partners Ray-Ban and Oakley and several retailers.

A Meta spokesperson told Politico EU, which first reported the story, that its smart glasses were "built with privacy safeguards from the ground up that go beyond what any smartphone offers." The glasses do have an LED that flashes while recording, along with software that blocks camera use if it detects LED tampering, like a piece of electrical tape. However, several companies have begun selling aftermarket accessories designed to block the light without triggering Meta's safeguards. Let the arms race commence.

Part of the problem is that privacy settings mostly protect the person who bought the glasses. What about everyone around them — some of whom may not even realize glasses can have cameras, much less notice the LED? Those bystanders haven't agreed to Meta's terms or looked over its privacy policies. And what happens as these devices grow more advanced and ubiquitous? It's no surprise someone tried to stay ahead of the curve with an app that warns you when a pair is nearby.

And concerns over where this is headed aren't exactly hypothetical. In June, Meta quietly removed dormant facial-recognition code from its smart glasses companion app after Wired discovered it.

Then there's what happens to images and videos when they leave the glasses. Regular photos and videos stay on the wearer's device unless cloud storage or sharing is enabled, but AI features are another story. Ask Meta AI, arguably the glasses' killer feature, about something you're looking at, and information about your surroundings gets sent to Meta for processing. The company employs third-party contractors to review and label some of those interactions for AI training.

Some of those contractors claim they have encountered some worrying material. Earlier this year, a Swedish newspaper reported that contractors in Kenya performing AI annotation saw intimate and sensitive material captured with the glasses. That reportedly included nudity, bathroom footage, sexual acts, credit card numbers and other private information.