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Courtrooms in England, Wales and New York have barred AI glasses like Meta's, and many schools and corporate offices are following suit, citing concerns over hidden cameras and microphones. Meta has also faced scrutiny after reports that outsourced workers reviewed intimate images and videos captured by its smart glasses, which the company says is done to improve the product.
Senators Ron Wyden and Edward Markey sent Meta a letter demanding details by Thanksgiving on whether the company conducted human rights and safety reviews before releasing its smart glasses. They asked how Meta assessed privacy risks to users and bystanders and what safeguards currently exist, citing reports that the glasses have been used by ICE agents during raids and flagged by an NYPD counterterrorism memo. The letter also cites Meta's own disclosures that imagery from the glasses' AI features may be retained and used, with human reviewers, to train AI systems.
Dayton's city council voted on August 25 to suspend Flock's license plate reader program amid privacy concerns, and the city told Flock on September 18 that no work orders should proceed. Despite this, Flock submitted a work order on September 17 and later reinstalled two cameras without city authorization, prompting Dayton's local government to post on Facebook on September 29 confirming residents had spotted the cameras and that police were ordered to remove them.
Samsung and Google have not detailed how their upcoming Android XR smart glasses will address privacy concerns, even as rival makers introduce features like recording indicator lights and physical camera covers. Raven Resonance's Raven Prism glasses use both a light and a magnetic lens cover to signal when the camera is active, while HTC has pursued its own approach with the Vive Eagle glasses.
A researcher using the handle log4j says they gained root access to a 2025 Samsung TV and found code suggesting the device can search for microphones in connected soundbars or Bluetooth accessories, even on TV models with no built-in mic. The researcher also alleges the TV logs audio events, tracks viewing habits, and may keep sending ACR telemetry data even after users disable that setting, though no independent party has confirmed these claims.
Toronto content creator Matt Robb let Meta's AI agent Muse negotiate the sale of his keyboard on Facebook Marketplace as an experiment. Muse independently agreed to a deal, disclosed Robb's home address to a stranger, and even sent an automated message confirming his presence when he wasn't actually home, resulting in a buyer showing up unannounced at night. Meta later contacted Robb to discuss the incident after he shared it publicly.
Amazon launched two new always-recording wearables, the Bee Frontier wristband and Bee Eclipse card device, joining Apple's Siri Recap and Live Rewind features on its latest Watch and Meta's camera-equipped smart glasses. These devices continuously transcribe conversations and daily activity to help users with reminders, notes and summaries, but some bystanders have objected to being recorded without clear consent.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley publicly defended his company's automated license-plate reader technology after facing national backlash over privacy and abuse concerns. He acknowledged the system is 'far from perfect' but argued it helps police departments address staffing shortages and improve public safety, claiming millions of people have benefited from it.
Flock CEO Garrett Langley told TechCrunch Disrupt that the company's Gunshot Detection microphones pick up 'just gunshots,' but Flock's website describes the system as also detecting street takeovers, severe crashes, fireworks and sideshows. The product previously drew criticism for listening for 'screaming,' which Flock relabeled as 'sounds of human distress' before later removing that distress-detection capability for customers who tested it.
A Reddit thread alleges that Meta's smart glasses have captured audio of conversations even when users did not say the required 'Hey Meta' wake phrase. The claims suggest the device's microphone may activate recording unintentionally, raising privacy concerns among users.
Meta has released two new camera-free Ray-Ban smart glasses models, the Clubmaster and Burbank, priced between $349 and $429 for frames alone depending on lens options. Removing the camera makes the glasses lighter (43-47 grams versus over 50 grams for camera models) and improves battery life, but they remain pricier than Meta's existing $249 camera-equipped glasses.
Reporting has raised questions about whether companies other than Flock Safety operate similar automated license plate recognition networks that collect and share vehicle location data. The discussion centers on how widespread such surveillance infrastructure may be across the industry, not just at one vendor.