Smart glasses are already doing some real scary stuff

Google Glass was a punchline when it first debuted, and for good reason: It looked ridiculous and seemed pointless.

But nothing can keep a good idea down, even if it’s actually not that good of an idea — Meta’s newer line of licensed Ray-Ban smart glasses have solved the main problem with Google Glass (i.e., they don’t look quite so ridiculous) while introducing terrifying new ones. 

• Unlike Glass’ heads-up display, the Meta Ray-Bans are mostly just Meta AI and a camera on your face.
• You can use them to livestream video straight to social media or access virtual assistant features without the pain of talking to a phone.

The new Ray-Bans are a hit, or at least more so than previous smart glasses.

Here’s where things take a turn

Two Harvard students have rigged together an alarming new use for smart glasses called I-XRAY.

• It matches someone’s face to publicly available data, then spits that info out in a phone app.
• In a video, the students use I-XRAY to trick strangers into thinking they’ve met simply by covertly scanning their face with smart glasses and getting their name off the internet.
• Combined with the already-high “creep factor” of the Ray-Bans (which are stealthier than the “kick me” sign of Google Glass), the existing privacy concerns of this tech skyrocket.

Luckily, the students don’t plan on releasing their system. Instead, they developed it to show just how easily this tech can be misused — not someday, but today. 

Also worth noting: Clandestine tracking and recording is against Meta’s terms of service and the students behind it have shared a list of services that remove your information from search engines. 

Of course, at this point, that’s like putting a Band-Aid over… your whole face.