German human rights group HateAid has filed a criminal complaint against Meta over its camera glasses, per Politico EU. The claim is that the glasses breach Germany’s Telecommunications, Digital Services and Data Protection Act, and that selling them is a criminal offence because of what they record without a bystander knowing. Ray-Ban, Oakley and several retailers are named alongside Meta. HateAid also wants limits on where the glasses may record, of the kind that already cover dashcams and bodycams.
Meta says the glasses were “built with privacy safeguards from the ground up that go beyond what any smartphone offers.” Those safeguards are an LED that flashes while recording and software that blocks the camera when the light is taped over. Several companies now sell accessories that block the light without triggering it, and a $2 sticker did the same job in July. England and Wales moved this month to keep the glasses out of courtrooms. HateAid is asking a prosecutor whether they can be on sale at all.