Meta quietly adds facial recognition ‘NameTag’ to smart glasses, raising privacy concerns

Meta is once again in the spotlight as the tech giant has reportedly been installing facial recognition software in its smart glasses, including Oakley and Ray-Ban smart glasses for the last few months.

According to an analysis conducted by The Wired, Meta has quietly integrated code for face recognition, named NameTag, into its Meta AI companion app which is required to use Meta glasses.

Through this feature, people wearing these glasses can easily identify other people in the surroundings captured by the glasses’ cameras.

How this NameTag feature works

The NameTag system consists of important components, including three AI models designed for detecting, cropping and encoding faces into biometric faceprints.

Once activated, it converts every face the glasses see into a biometric signature and checks it against a database on the phone, one built to receive updates from Meta's servers.

Although the feature is not yet active for users,the code embedded in the NameTag has been distributed through updates to millions of phones.

Previously, Meta stated that it would take a “thoughtful approach” when it comes to rolling out the feature for the public and the company has not decided yet whether to introduce this feature or not.

However, the security researchers’ claims contradict Meta’s statement. They confirmed that code is almost ready for deployment, citing “they're one switch away.”

They also tested the matching system using a sample image and researchers got back two words: "Person recognized."

According to Cooper Quintin, a security researcher and senior public interest technologist with the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Threat Lab, “The feature is not yet exposed to consumers but seems nearly ready to go. Despite the billions of reasons not to, Meta seems to have created the capacity to turn their customers into a distributed surveillance machine.”

NameTag would revive the same technology that previously Meta shut down the controversial Facebook photo-tagging system in 2021 after deleting a billion faceprints and paying out over $2 billion in biometric settlements.

Privacy concerns

The technology has sparked alarming privacy concerns among critics who believe that this feature will invade consensual privacy and perform scanning of individuals in public spaces.

The advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Fight for the Future and Electronic Privacy Information Center have also argued that Meta’s NameTag would allow the stalkers and abusers to identify people in the public, leading to harassment and mass surveillance.

Meta’s response

Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels said, "Regardless of any sensational reporting, the facts are simple: We've said before we're exploring these types of features, and what you're seeing is just evidence of that exploration.”

“Nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything. If we do decide to roll something out, we will take a thoughtful approach and do so with full transparency. One decision we can be clear about—we are not building a central face database."