Meta’s new glasses might see no more

TL;DR: Meta is apparently so sick of being the maker of “pervert glasses” that it may launch camera-less versions of its hit eyewear soon. But that won’t necessarily fix all its privacy issues—or slow the onslaught of backlash and lawsuits the company faces.

What happened: We could get a glimpse of the new glasses, codenamed “Luna,” as soon as next week, per a report from The Information. And while few details are available right now, it’s rumored that they will still have six mics (the same as the previous release) and speakers.

The mics give people a hands-free way to interact with Meta’s AI products, including its new Muse personal assistant. It’s probably a safe bet that Luna will let users capture their surrounding audio, too, but there’s no confirmation yet of its recording capabilities—or whether it’ll still have an LED light to alert people when it’s capturing.

Glasshole fatigue: Meta ditching the camera on its bestselling eyewear may come as a surprise to some. But over the last year or so, we’ve seen growing pushback against smart glasses and other all-seeing, all-hearing devices—including new anti-“glasshole” apps like ZuckOff that can detect nearby smart glasses. Meta, for its part, said in late July that it would start removing Instagram content where smart glasses users harass others (though such videos are still pretty easy to find).

Lawsuits galore: On top of all the public distaste, there are now two proposed class action lawsuits taking aim at Meta’s glasses. The first, filed in March, alleges that Meta used people’s smart glasses footage to train its AI without their knowledge or consent—and let contractors view these sometimes-intimate recordings. In late August, the suit was amended to include bystanders who don’t own Meta glasses but were recorded anyway.

The second, filed in early September, accuses Meta of illegally extracting biometrics from people’s Facebook and Instagram photos—which the suit claims it used to develop an unreleased facial recognition feature for its glasses.

Bottom line: Luna sure looks like Meta’s attempt to calm the creep glasses backlash. But of all the tech devices now packing cameras and mics, Meta’s have drawn the most ire—suggesting the problem may also be the company in the public’s view. —WK