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One of the chief problems with \u201cluxury surveillance\u201d devices, like smart glasses with baked-in video recording cameras, is that they often look indistinguishable from regular eyewear, meaning you might be recorded without knowing it.<\/p>\n
But now there is an app that can detect and alert you when someone nearby is wearing smart glasses, or potentially other always-recording tech.<\/p>\n
The Android app, aptly named Nearby Glasses<\/a>, constantly scans for nearby signals that emit from Bluetooth-enabled tech, such as wearable devices made by Meta (and Oakley) and Snap.<\/p>\n The app launches at a time as there is an increasing resistance against always-recording or listening devices, which critics say process information about nearby people who do not give their consent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yves Jeanrenaud, who made the app, first spoke to 404 Media<\/a> about the project and said he was in part inspired to make Nearby Glasses after reading the independent publication\u2019s reporting into wearable surveillance devices, including how Meta\u2019s Ray-Ban smart glasses<\/a> have been used in immigration raids<\/a> and to film and harass sex workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the app\u2019s project page, Jeanrenaud described<\/a> smart glasses as an \u201cintolerable intrusion, consent neglecting, horrible piece of tech.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeanrenaud told TechCrunch in an email that his motivation came from \u201cwitnessing the sheer scale and inhumane nature of the abuse these smart glasses are involved in.\u201d Jeanrenaud also cited Meta\u2019s decision to implement face recognition as a default feature<\/a> in its smart glasses, \u201cwhich I consider to be a huge floodgate pushed open for all kinds of privacy-invasive behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n