Meta Smart Glasses Were Used for Real-Time Doxing by College Students

• Two college students published a demo video showcasing how the Meta smart glasses can be used for real-time doxing.
• Using advanced facial recognition technology via Instagram live streaming, they retrieved the personal details of the people they were filming.
• This demo raises awareness of how benign tech can be weaponized for privacy invasion.

Harvard students AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio have shown how Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses can be utilized to dox individuals in real-time. Leveraging advanced facial recognition technology, the students developed a demo called I-XRAY.

This tool uses the Meta smart glasses’ capability to live stream video to Instagram, which is then processed by AI to identify faces in the stream. These images are cross-referenced with public databases to retrieve personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and even family details, which are then sent back through a mobile app in real-time.

While the students stress that their intent is educational—to showcase the current capabilities of existing tech—the implications are chilling. They illustrate how ostensibly benign technologies can be weaponized for privacy invasion.

The discreet nature of modern smart glasses, which look indistinguishable from regular eyewear, exacerbates the potential for covert surveillance. Although these devices possess a privacy indicator light, they often go unnoticed, especially in bright environments.

This demonstration serves as a critical reminder of the privacy risks inherent in wearable tech. It draws attention to the need for public awareness and discussion about the ethical use of such devices. The incident is reminiscent of the backlash faced by Google Glass, albeit in an era where the public is more accustomed to being recorded due to smartphones and social media.

The ability to pair AI with consumer tech calls for a revisiting of regulatory frameworks governing privacy and data use. While companies like Meta provide guidelines to prevent misuse, enforcement and compliance remain challenging.

Users must be proactive in protecting their digital identities. This includes opting out of reverse face search, and people search databases, though it's acknowledged that erasing one's online presence entirely is nearly impossible.

In other recent news, Ford's new patent to collect driver data raised privacy concerns among experts and customers. The carmaker’s proposed technology aims to collect sensitive driver data, such as car conversations, and harvest GPS location and historical user data for personalized ads displayed in Ford vehicles.