Kylie Jenner’s latest collaboration with Meta is copping heat after she launched a pair of “smart glasses” that contain software which makes it easy to secretly record others.
The 28-year-old beauty mogul teamed up with the mega tech platform and eyewear specialist EssilorLuxottica to create a pair of sunnies containing an array of AI-powered features, including a built-in display and camera that can record and take photos of your surroundings while wearing.
The $US 299 frames also allow users to listen to open-ear audio, take calls, and interact with an AI assistant.
Meta – the parent company of multiple social media and communication platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – says its new glasses have strong privacy settings to protect users and a built-in light that comes on when in recording mode to alert others around you.
But the controversial technology has concerned a number of women and privacy advocates after a “creepy” trend emerged following the launch of the first Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses in 2024.
In the past two years, social media has lit up with videos of unsuspecting women being filmed, predominantly by men.
The clips show the women in a variety of concerning situations, such as relaxing at the beach or simply walking down the street, and are shared online as part of a viral trend that sees creeps and wannabe pick-up artists secretly filming women without their knowledge or consent.
And now, with the launch of Meta’s first own-brand, cheaper than ever smart glasses, there are fresh concerns.
“These meta glasses should be heavily regulated, ideally banned,” said one on social media.
“This is so important! It’s surveillance masked as lifestyle,” another claimed.
As one lamented: “This is absolutely insanity and a real danger to women.”
“This product will put a lot of women and children in danger in the near future,” mused someone else.
Privacy advocates warned against smart glasses in April after it emerged that Meta was considering the integration of facial recognition technology into the gadget, with potential plans for a rollout in “early 2026”.
This feature would enable the AI-powered glasses to identify individuals in real-time, providing wearers with information about people they look at, such as names or basic details.
As a result, more than 70 civil liberties and advocacy groups in the US urging Meta to reconsider, stating that if the new feature is rolled out, the smart glasses could become outright dangerous.
“Facial recognition technology built into inconspicuous consumer eyewear represents a serious threat to privacy and civil liberties for every member of our society, and particularly for historically marginalised and vulnerable groups,” an open letter addressed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg reads.
“People should be able to move through their daily lives without fear. Our concerns reflect the fundamental danger of the technology itself.”
The call comes after a growing number of the Ray-Ban Meta AI-powered glasses fell into the hands of users with bad intentions, with the footage later shared online, often without the subject ever realising she was on camera.
Lauren Britt, from Tampa in Florida, exposed the “creepy” way women are being secretly filmed at the end of last year, leaving many horrified at just how easy it can be for a man to violate a woman’s privacy.
The young woman was caught off guard when she was sitting in an airport lounge waiting to board a flight to Boston, and was approached by a man she didn’t know, who proceeded to have a short conversation with her.
In this case, the interaction was so innocuous, it’s fair to say Ms Britt probably wouldn’t have thought about it ever again.
Except her brother spotted the video circulating on Instagram, and quickly alerted her to it, prompting a concerned Ms Britt to share the clip in a bid to raise awareness.
“Here I am, minding my business at the airport, and this guy starts to talk to me,” the 28-year-old explained in a video of her own.
“I didn’t know he was recording me… I had no idea he recorded the whole conversation with his glasses.”
Sadly, she’s far from alone in her experience.
A Sydney woman who was filmed by a US content creator with the same smart glasses, said she found it “violating and disgusting” when the interaction was posted to his 1.3 million Instagram followers last year.
“I was just strolling along, reading the news, but when I looked up, I saw that a man was about to approach me,” she told news.com.au at the time.
“He was trying to lock eyes so I took my earphones out and spoke to him and he shook my hand.
“I now remember that he fiddled with his sunglasses at the start of the chat, but I just thought he was adjusting them. Now I realise he was probably starting the recording because there were two dots on either side, but it was very subtle.”
The interactions vary from awkward to aggressive, with women visibly rejecting advances while still being recorded, earning the nickname “pervert glasses”, the New York Post reported.
An investigation by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten found that footage captured on the devices includes people in highly vulnerable situations, such as using the bathroom, undressing and even having sex.
Meta’s glasses have “an LED light that activates whenever someone captures content, so it’s clear the device is recording”, but the Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten found the lights are easily covered by tape.
Internal safeguards meant to protect privacy don’t always work, the investigation concluded.
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