[24743] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Script of my national radio report yesterday
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lauren Weinstein)
Tue Oct 13 11:33:05 2026
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2026 08:14:23 -0700
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
To: privacy-dist@vortex.com
Message-ID: <20261013151423.GA26350@vortex.com>
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This is the script of my national network radio tech report yesterday
about "smart glasses" and reactions to them. As always there may have
been minor variations from this text as I presented this report live
on air.
- - -
Remember back in 2013 when Google introduced Google Glass? It was a
wonky headset with a strange looking display over one eye. Extremely
expensive and the consumer version only lasted a couple of years,
though a more popular enterprise version was supported until a few
years ago. Privacy was a big concern with Glass, given the integral
camera.
Now Google Glass looks like a dinosaur. The market is being flooded
with far less expensive and far more capable products generically
called "smart glasses" that typically look very much like an ordinary
pair of not very fashionable eyeglasses. And these make the privacy
problems of Google Glass look inconsequential by comparison.
Meta, of course traditionally a source of privacy concerns, is one of
the leaders pushing this tech. In the UK these smart glasses are now
routinely called "perv" or "pervert" glasses, and the term seems to be
catching on globally. It's easy to see why. While these glasses
usually have a little indicator light to show the camera is on, users
have become adept at enabling the camera while stopping that camera-on
indication from being seen, despite actions by some manufacturers to
try disable or otherwise prevent this.
The list of ways in which smart glasses are being abused is long and
growing longer every day. Often linked directly to Big Tech AI
systems, they're being used to cheat on tests, break rules in
courtrooms, harass women in public via face identification systems,
and much, much more. Bans against their use are popping up seemingly
everywhere. Bathrooms, locker rooms, schools, courtrooms, restaurants,
nightclubs, offices, security areas, and so on. Many of these bans and
proposed bans are being ordered by governmental agencies at the city,
state, or national levels, around the world.
Fundamentally, these devices are yet another example of those Big Tech
billionaire CEOs shoving privacy-invasive technology down our throats
that we didn't ask for and that they must have known would be privacy
nightmares -- and they just didn't care.
This does fit their standard operating procedure. Very recently OpenAI
CEO Sam Altman said that the world should accept bad things happening
in exchange for all the benefits of AI. Easy for him to say. And
speaking of bad things when it comes to privacy, Amazon apparently is
equipping all of their delivery persons with smart glasses that will
record and analyze everything they see, all the time.
It's ordinary people, not these CEOs, who suffer the consequences of
these technologies. Any good such technologies might potentially do is
wiped out by the abuses. It's important to understand that these
billionaires live in an entirely different world than the rest of us,
and often seem to have what can only be called rather "nutty" views
about the tech they're pushing.
Anthropic just announced that they're updating their usage policies to
prohibit users from forms of "abusive or cruel" behavior toward their
Claude AI chatbot, as if you could hurt poor little Claude's feelings.
These AI models don't have emotions. They don't even THINK as we
normally use that word. They can no more be offended than a loaf of
moldy bread.
Luckily, it appears that the privacy issues surrounding these pervert
glasses have been quickly recognized. Whether attempts to control them
will be generally successful is a more problematic question however,
because Big Tech will be doing everything they can, including
leveraging their political connections, to avoid any controls and will
be endeavoring to treat us, as usual, as their personal playthings.
- - -
L
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com (https://www.vortex.com/lauren)
Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
Mastodon: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren
Signal: By request on need to know basis
Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org
PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility
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