Students used Meta’s smart glasses to automatically chase strangers through Instagram streams
Bad report coming from it has shed light on other methods that can be used to violate people’s privacy. Two Harvard students used facial recognition technology and a large language model to find the name of the course, the job and other details. Their setup (called XRAY) can use that information to compile other data about a person including their address, phone number, family member information and part of their Social Security Numbers from various sources on the web. All this is said to be automatic.
Although this is possible with a variety of cameras, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio chose to use Meta smart glasses since they “almost look invisible on regular glasses” and have a built-in camera. A demo video shows students using the glasses quickly. get information about the people they meet in public. Nguyen and Ardayfio talk to seemingly strangers by name, discuss their work and reveal a place where they may have met in the past, based on information obtained through a facial recognition system.
In the video, it is explained that the students broadcast the video from the glasses to Instagram. The stream is monitored by a computer program. When the AI detects someone’s face, its I-XRAY system pulls many photos of that person from the web and public information about them. The system then transmits that information to a mobile app developed by Nguyen and Ardayfio. It may take just a few minutes for this process to play out.
The students said 404 Media that they developed XRAY to make people aware of what is possible with this technology and will not release the code they used. Nguyen said that although some people who demonstrated the technology suggested that they could use it to communicate or make friendly pranks, others expressed serious security concerns. “Some dude can get a girl’s home address on the train and just follow her home,” Nguyen said.
In what explains some of the technology behind their system, Nguyen and Ardayfio provide resources that explain how to remove your information from the services they used in I-XRAY. Those concerned about their privacy may want to consider using personal information deletion services such as DeleteMe or Incogni.
This type of technology is not new in nature — 404 Media points out that Meta and Google have had the ability to use facial recognition in camera feeds for years, but have not made it public. But the ability to use it on seemingly innocuous off-the-shelf smart glasses (save for a light that works when the camera is recording) may give cause for concern.
When asked for comment, Meta referred Engadget to this section of its terms of service about Facebook View, a companion app for smart glasses:
Your responsibility for your use of Facebook View. You are responsible for complying with all applicable laws when using Facebook View, and for providing any notice or obtaining any consents, as required under video recording, audio recording, biometric data, or other privacy, data protection, or other applicable laws, in other . people who use your Facebook View or interact with you while using Facebook View. You are also responsible for using Facebook View in a safe, legal, and respectful manner. You must not interfere with the Glasses, or hide or alter any features on the Glasses that indicate to others that the Glasses are recording (including the outward-facing LED light).
Facebook View is intended for personal or home use only. You may only use Facebook View for personal non-commercial purposes under the Terms and any other terms available by us relating to Facebook View. Unless that restriction is prohibited under applicable law, you will not disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, decrypt, or attempt to derive any code or extract software from Facebook View. Except to the extent expressly authorized by us, you may not prepare derivative works based on, distribute, license, sell, rent, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, broadcast, broadcast or otherwise use Facebook View or any software, content, or services available on -Facebook View or via Facebook View.
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