Meta has closed a privacy loophole in its Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta, and Meta AI smart glasses that let wearers keep recording video after covering up the small LED light meant to signal to bystanders that a camera is on.
How the Loophole Worked
The glasses’ camera indicator light was designed to turn on whenever recording started, alerting people nearby. But once a recording was already underway, wearers could cover the light with a finger, sticker, or aftermarket modification, and the camera would keep recording anyway. Online sellers and modders had begun offering kits to disable the light more permanently, including drilling out the light housing and filling it with resin.
What Changed
Meta rolled out a software update on August 27 for its Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta, and Meta AI glasses that now stops recording immediately if the indicator light is blocked at any point, not just at the start of a recording.
A Problem the Update Doesn’t Solve
Meta has also launched a billboard advertising campaign in Los Angeles explaining what the recording light means, an acknowledgment that many bystanders don’t recognize or understand the indicator in the first place, a gap no firmware update can close on its own.
Related from BeezLoop: Meta Whistleblower Testifies Zuckerberg Lied About Child Safety, Flock Surveillance Cameras Are Being Vandalized Across the Country and Exploiting Development: Inside the Federal Trial Over Meta’s Youth Harm Algorithms.
