I previously wrote about how no one is going to be allowed to wear Meta glasses around me, recording or otherwise. The largest reason for that is because of my privacy concerns regarding Meta having a microphone or camera anywhere near me. I trust my friends wouldn’t have the other reason I hate these things. They’re still easy to trick into not showing an LED light while recording. Initially, it could be as easy as covering the camera sensor slightly at the start of recording and using small stickers to block the LED. However, some software updates may have made this method less reliable. There’s a more extreme method that seems to still work across models and generations of Meta’s glasses: drilling. Now there are people selling their services drilling out the LED of these glasses to allow creep shot recording at all times. It’s, reportedly, only $60.
The mod is simple. I didn’t call it out in the original article for a few reasons. It was the most drastic mod, I had read some reports that users broke their 2nd generation Meta glasses, and as someone too cool to buy these things, I couldn’t test it out myself. But sure enough, Meta’s new glasses can still be modified to hide the fact that creeps are using them to record “incognito mode” videos.
Gross.
A Quick Mod for Cheap Creeps
There are more than a few videos online of the drill process which seems to offer a permanent “fix” to a recording light showing while taking video. This involves destroying the LED and protecting the remaining electronics in some fashion. Unfortunately, Meta didn’t do anything clever, like a light sensor or two that check that the LED is actually on and no light is reflecting back into the enclosure from a covering. They could have also made the light be a ring around the lens, with software that reads the presence of this light in videos and edits it out in much the same way 360 cameras do, or simply through cropping the image. This modification has worked on two generations of Meta’s classes. They knew the issue, they knew how they could fix it, and they didn’t fix it. Now there’s a cheap and easy mod users can do to their glasses to allow secret recordings.
If you’re scared about the idea of drilling into your spy glasses, fret not! Many of the people making videos will sell you modified glasses, or modify your own for you. One modder claims he has done many without a single failure. eBay listings get taken down, but others offer their services over Telegram and other less standard platforms. For some reason, it’s hard to sell glasses that violate Meta’s terms of service, given that they made it so easy to do so.
Yes, It’s Creepy
“404 Media contacted multiple people who appear to have purchased Kim’s modified glasses to ask them why. None of them replied.”
-from 404 Media’s report on these glasses, by Joseph Cox and Jason Koebler
Listen, it’s easy to explain why a light is on. Camcorders have used a red light facing the subject to tell people something is recording for ages. We’re aware of how these things work. Very few people are actually inconvenienced by the light shining except to obvious ones: people who want to record for creepy or antagonistic reasons. That’s why everyone assumes someone doing this mod is a creep. No one wanted to respond to 404 Media’s questioning about their reasoning for getting the mod, and it’s possibly due to shame.
Recording people without their knowledge is creepy, and if the people making these recordings didn’t want to be creepy, they’d be fine with the light. Whether it’s for creep shots or to make prank or humiliation videos mocking someone for their interest or attraction, people want to record discretely with these glasses for reasons that usually aren’t ones they want to share. Sure, a camera on a smartphone doesn’t have a recording light, but it’s not always out and pointed at people either. And camera manufacturers do have to add a fake shutter sound them in some regions that have a high number of people using them for creep shots, so perhaps this is not the best comparison.
You could say that people only want to use it to record interactions with police or ICE, a growing concern. But if that was an overwhelming motivator for these people, why does it not come up more frequently? And why would anyone want to wear it in any setting other than a protest or when witnessing police brutality? Wouldn’t a variety of cameras be better for that anyway?
Also, just so you’re aware, you’re better off protecting your eyesight with shatter resistant goggles than trying to record with a camera like this. Try a 360 cam in a pocket or an action cam, it’ll be more obvious, but that’s why we protest in numbers. There are better ways to record the crimes of law enforcement and ICE than glasses that won’t do much to protect you.
Another Reddit user stated that there would be glare inside a motorcycle helmet, to which another person pointed out how difficult it would be to record while riding, given the inability to touch the glasses without removing the helmet and the 3-minute limit on videos. And, once more, there are better cameras for this purpose that would record clearer video that isn’t through a visor.
Every reason given seems to be struck down. If you feel awkward recording, you probably shouldn’t be recording. Street photographers have dealt with those feelings of awkwardness for years, you just have to learn to push through if that’s what you want to do. If you’re not recording for creepy reasons, no one will actually complain and if they do, you can apologize, explain what you’re recording, delete it, and move on. The only reasons that actually make sense for wanting to hide your recordings are creepy reasons. Perhaps that’s why there’s always a few Meta Glasses users asking others not to do these mods or advertise them, it gives the glasses a reputation for being for creepers.
Sorry, mostly normal people with these glasses, it’s a bit late for that.
Don’t Cave: Ban Meta Glasses Around You
Make sure your friends know that you’ll think less of them for buying things like this. Whether it’s having an AI “friend” or wearing spyware eyewear, our greatest defense against this crap is creating stigma. Recording stealth videos, whether to create creepy sexual footage or to embarrass would-be suitors, is wrong. Making sure the technology capable of it isn’t ubiquitous is the best way to ensure these creep shots aren’t easy to capture.
While creeps come to this surveillance tech in droves, there are plenty of legitimate uses for face-worn smart glasses. Most people buying these likely didn’t get them to be creeps, at least not until it became apparent that the light was easy to disable. Still, glasses that aren’t from companies with spotty privacy records, like Meta, would be better options. Perhaps glasses that are not capable of recording at all would be preferable. Smart technology can have plenty of uses, we just have to make sure we don’t compromise our privacy or create a culture of surveillance while we use it.
Sources:
- Pesala Bandara, Peta Pixel
- Joseph Cox, Jason Koebler, 404 Media
- Amy Larson, Kron 4
- Eli Thompson, Rolling Stone