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Pervert glasses, data surveillance, and what to do about it all

Last week, as I caught up with a friend over dinner and we talked about what food to order, the couple sitting at the table next to us - halfway through their own dinner - overheard us and kindly offered some suggestions.

We engaged in some enjoyable small talk for a few minutes until one of them, a middle-aged man, started to tell us about his food vlog and gushed about the positive reception he'd been getting. He'd been reviewing dozens and dozens of restaurants over the last year and sharing his thoughts with his audience on Facebook.

Before I could respond, he pointed to his glasses and added one more comment - "And I've been capturing it all on my Meta glasses".

Oh.

The smile dropped from my face and I started to think - is he recording right now? Has he been recording our entire conversation? How could I not tell they were smart glasses? Did he cover up the so-called blinking "privacy light" that indicates when they're actively recording? (Something that is sadly easily done by purchasing a small accessory online.)

And as my friend and I continued our dinner and caught up on more intimate things, I couldn't stop thinking about the guy sitting next to us. Was he recording everything? And I thought about the woman he was with. Was she okay with all of this? How long had he been doing this?

I felt violated. I wasn't given an option and I didn't know when or what he was recording. I was just having dinner with a friend - but it felt weird to know that my night was possibly being recorded as a part of his vlog, me and my friend caught in the corner of his video, posted on his page forever.

I thought I would be able to easily spot smart glasses out in the wild. But this proved to me that they blend in naturally.

In the grand scheme of things, my experience was very tame. But the bigger picture is that, as is wont to happen with technology, these glasses are being used to harm others.

To make matters more dystopian, Meta has been quietly adding face-recognition code to its smart glasses - and then silently removing it without clarification. And just this month, its patent for "Smart Cameras with Assistant Systems" was published. Meta's vision for this tech is, quoting straight from the patent:

"[...] accessing sensory data captured by cameras, identifying people [...] based on facial recognition of the sensory data, generating media files with each being associated with one of the people or at least one of the determined actions [...]"

In other words, these glasses would be able to identify who is in frame, analyze their expressions and actions, what their relationship is to the wearer, and generate clips that label who's in them. As this article puts it:

"For example, the system could recognize people at a dinner party, detect laughter, and create a collection of clips. Used retroactively, it could help a wearer recall where they met someone or what happened at a previous event."

Put simply, we are not ready for smart glasses. (Or, as the internet as aptly dubbed them, pervert glasses.)

And so, this all has gotten me thinking more broadly about data. To exist in this world is to give out data constantly. Sometimes freely and knowingly, yes, but often blindly.

That data comes from what we post on social media, what ads we interact with, our search history, who we message on our phones - but also from all the "smart" products you might have at home. A smart fridge tracking your food consumption habits with its internal camera, a smart speaker tracking your voice command activity, a smart thermostat tracking your routine based on your usage, a smart doorbell tracking who visits and leaves your home... you get it.

Stop and think about how much data you give out on a daily basis.

What data are you giving up willingly?

  • Like when your phone asks you if you want to allow apps to track your activity across other apps or websites so they can deliver ads personalized to you.
  • Or when you accept a company's terms and conditions that you definitely read (and that likely gives them the freedom to use your data in ways you wouldn't accept if they had been forthright about it).
  • Or when you feel pressured to type in your phone number to join a café's loyalty program when the cashier flips their tablet around and you're just trying to pay and leave (not that I would know what that's like...).

What about habit-tracking or health-related apps? Are you logging every workout on Strava, complete with routes and who you did them with? Are you tracking your emotional state with a mental health app? Are you analyzing your step count, heart rate, and water intake on your phone?

Not all data is inherently bad. It can be fun to track the books you've read or the movies you've watched, and compare with friends. It can be fulfilling to track your health journey as you train for that marathon. And we depend on navigation apps to help us get around our spaces (whether or not we're too dependent on them and don't truly learn how to get around a city is a conversation for another day).

The problem is when that data is used against us - which is all the time.

The problem is when that data is the backbone of the ever-growing surveillance state of the world.

Your phone isn't listening to you - you're being tracked through your digital paper trail.

Where you go. Who you meet with. What your political stance is. If you're religious. What medication you're on.

Governments are using that information to stop protests and choose who to deport.

A lot of people respond to all of this by saying something like "What's the alternative, going completely off the grid? They already have my data, so what's the point?"

But my goal is to get you to more actively think about the data you're giving out - especially thinking twice about posting on social media.

Data brokers manage the data gathered from your social media, and advertisers (or anyone who pays) can bid on your data. It's a goldmine for them because it allows them to send you personalized ads meant to make you give them money.

We are not the customers for social media companies. The advertisers are.

And every time we use social media, we are doing free labor for them - aka as giving them data, which they consume, and it becomes fodder for their advertisers.

I encourage you to think deeply about how and when you give up your data. Because decisions are made for you based on your data. Like a bank loan quickly being rejected. Or an application not going through. Or you being pre-disqualified from medical insurance because of medical history data gathered through a DNA test you willingly did.

Data is a tool for fascists, and the powers that be will always want more - more power, more money, more data. But we can fight back by refusing to give out so much data, especially that which we give up freely and willingly.

Consider switching to analog alternatives (it could look like doing research at the library instead of on the computer, or meeting up with friends in person, or tracking your health journey with a physical journal, etc.). Read up on more private internet browsers and email providers. Look into ways you can limit activity tracking on the things you use.

The way we fight back is by first realizing just how much we give up willingly.

P.S. And that guy with the smart glasses at my dinner the other day? As he walked out of the restaurant with his companion, I heard him excitedly greet another man. The noise drew my eyes to them, and as I saw the two engage in a friendly bear hug, I noticed the other man was also wearing smart glasses - they were overjoyed to meet a fellow spectacled menace.

If there's anything good I can say about this tech, I guess it's that these pervert glasses bring people together.

☕️ I'd love to hear from you - what's your relationship like with your data? Any topic ideas for future issues? Comment below or shoot me an email at howkind@mateusdasilva.com :-)

🎷This was issue #7 of How Kind, spreading kindness, one newsletter at a time. See the full archive here.