A new hobbyist developed app warns if people nearby may be wearing smart glasses, such as Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, which stalkers and harassers have repeatedly used to film people without their knowledge or consent. The app scans for smart glasses’ distinctive Bluetooth signatures and sends a push alert if it detects a potential pair of glasses in the local area.
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Is it available yet? I can’t find it in the App Store.
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Seems to be this one
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Not trying to sound contrarian or anything, but what would be the outcome of this? Like if your get an alert, you leave the area? I feel like within a year or two you’d just be getting alerts constantly (not to mention that in any urban or suburban area there are already cameras everywhere anyway). Also, would others be able to pick up that you’re listening like this, or does the app only require you to receive signals? (I know almost nothing about the Bluetooth protocol.)
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It’s just a hobbyist project. You would have to keep checking my phones for alerts. I’d rather try to avoid people wearing glasses.
I wonder if current Bluetooth detection apps would see it, too. I have one that can see lots of BT devices around me.
I installed AirGuard recently, but I have yet to test it properly.
This one shows stuff around you on iOS: Wunderfind: Find Lost Device App - App Store
I sort of agree with you here. In North America, it’s generally accepted by the courts that there is no inherent right to privacy in public. There are cameras everywhere these days, especially in the downtown core. The Meta glasses don’t allow users to surreptitiously record out of the box. Even if you know you’re being recorded, how will one respond?
While many governments refuse to do anything to protect privacy of people in public spaces, there are things individuals and groups can do. In non-public spaces, depending on context, if someone is in a space and someone with Meta glasses walks in, in most cases they could leave the space, protect their face or report the offender, or if they have power, confront the offender themselves. Venue staff and owners could kick out offenders wearing Meta glasses. These what-ifs are applied more generally to when people carry smartphones or when someone points a camera around or starts recording, especially in contexts where privacy or security is an expectation. Some workplaces and community spaces do not allow members or visitors to carry smartphones, and as a security measure will take custody of those devices. I think this app or something like it could assist venue security personnel.
Like the article says it’s a hobbyist project.
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As I said, in public places, the courts have already ruled that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. That’s why smartphone video recordings are so common in North America. I can’t speak for the rest of the world. What would reporting or even confronting the person do when the law isn’t on your side? If you break their phone or their glasses, it’s actually going to be you that will be charged with a crime. In a private context, I think your other point is valid, but not public. Listen, I want privacy laws to tough up considerably. I hate all of these surreptitious recordings as much as anyone here, but the law is the law.
Poked through the code. App is a bluetooth scanner that sniffs the BLE Address & advertisement channels to compares UIDs against known values for Meta, Snap, Rayban, & Essilor. Nice
Here’s a interesting, semi-related project I came across while digging around: Glasses to detect smart-glasses that have cameras
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I did the same - a friend with an airtag on their keys pinged on there, so it does seem to work.
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Apologies I meant for non-public spaces. I edited my post to clarify.
You are being recorded so you idea is to break your own glasses?
Couldn’t find a gif of someone breaking someone else’s glasses with my very thorough 2s search
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Honestly, after looking over my AI submissions and some of my past submissions, I would be down to volunteer with others to make an entire iot section about smart glasses, vacuum cleaners, security cameras, ECT.