As early as next week Meta might reveal new RayBan smart glasses which don't feature a built-in camera – not because it isn't a popular feature with users, but because the world is starting to perceive the glasses as the tools of creeps, with a growing reaction against them.
We, and many others, have reviewed the Meta RayBan Gen 2 glasses positively as a user-friendly means of capturing images on the go, and an interesting alternative to the best action cameras.
The wider public – especially those who haven't actually seen the images you get from camera glasses – seems to be increasingly taking a different view. Initially that backlash was somewhat contained when Meta added hardware to the newer version which disabled the camera when the record indicator light was covered.
However, an app called ZuckOff (named as a pun on Meta's CEO), has also arrived for iOS and Android. It is free, but with a premium version for the more worried or more data-conscious. If you want the paid features, continuous scanning and logging, it'll cost $9.99 / £9.99 / AU$14.99 a year).
It's not the only variant of this kind of app, we should add. Just the one with the funniest name. NearbyGlasses (Android only) is another, with 100,000 downloads.
I asked my wife, often the subject of unsubtle online comments about her appearance, what she thought about the glasses, and she said: "I'd be more worried about people recording private conversations; it's not like I'll be undressing in public and the camera is pretty wide-angle anyway, but yes, I think I'd use an app like that."
So, take away the camera that some people really don't like and the prospect of being recorded for whatever reason. Indeed, the glasses have been specifically banned in courtrooms in the UK, New York, as well as in schools in Norway.
Meta, though, doesn't want people to miss out on the opportunity to explore the world with the help of their AI chatbot. Or, more accurately, want people to be using their chatbot and not a competing one as they wander around collecting data. So it is now expected that – at some point during Meta Connect, the company's event on September 23-24, new camera-free glasses with the facility to talk to the chatbot will be unveiled.
Whether these will be enough to combat the wide sense of unease that the product has established is another matter. That is a whole other story, but it's now being studied by academics.
There has been a lot of discussion, arguably led by Dr Joanne Gray and Dr Milica Stilinovic, under the subject of consent. It'll be interesting to know if this is seen as an adequate resolution, or the issue is already snowballing beyond control.
At the same time there are know legitimate uses for devices like this – as someone who often struggles to remember people's names and faces (a side effect of medication, not just rudeness), there were times I hoped products like this, with the right controls, would succeed.
Now I'm not sure.
