Update: Since publishing this story Meta has responded to say its tech (like all technology) comes the expectation that "people should behave responsibly and not misuse it." You can read the full statement below. I've also reported on news that Pennsylvanian lawmakers want new smart glasses safety rules, and that story also includes Meta's statement.

Original: $50 or some technical know-how — that’s all it’s taking some to mod their Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to disable one of its most important safety features: the camera light.

The first-person video perspective is incredible for snapping first-person shots while on vacation or just living your day to day, but bad actors have been using smart glasses in more nefarious ways — often to harass women as the BBC reported earlier this year, with that likely to spike again as we enter beach season in the Northern hemisphere.

To help prevent secret recording, the Meta glasses switch on a light that plays the entire time. It sits on the left side of the glasses, creating design symmetry with the camera on the right, and if it’s ever covered (say, by some tape), the glasses will prevent you from recording.

However, as reported by Joanna Stern in a YouTube video, modders can permanently disable this light in a way that doesn’t prevent recording. You just need the technical know-how and some tools, or $50 to $100 to pay someone on places like Facebook Marketplace, adding an unfortunate ironic layer that it’s happening through Meta’s own platform.

This kind of hack isn’t illegal, but it is against Meta’s terms of service. Recording with these now secret spy glasses isn’t necessarily illegal either. It depends on the region's laws surrounding things like recording in public and if you need one- or two-party consent.

I reached out to Meta for comment, and it said "All technology — whether it's cameras, smartphones, or AI glasses — comes with the same basic expectation: people should behave responsibly and not misuse it. We aggressively target anyone advertising tampering tools, have removed thousands of violating ads and Marketplace listings for these services, and pursue legal action when appropriate."

It added that it is looking into evolving its existing measures so that it can continue to deliver safe and secure products.

Please don't ruin the tech I love

My relationship with smart glasses has been a little up and down recently, but overall, I’m still a major advocate for them.

Just like smartwatches before them, smart specs offer truly useful features in ways that are more convenient than our existing tech — I’ve used my own RayBans when I travel to great effect (translating signs, identifying historical sites and monuments, and recording memories without being taken out of the moment), and the tech’s only getting better.

These kinds of modifications risk ruining everyone’s fun. Because if people keep abusing this tech, I can see governments taking a heavy hand with restrictions — either outlawing cameras in specs, or simply banning smart glasses altogether if things get too out of hand.

That would suck.

So I'm hoping there are some fixes Meta can implement, and that other manufacturers follow suit. Perhaps they could also work with governments to introduce precise rule changes, such as making it illegal to record covertly or changing harassment rules so that bad actors are punished.

Because smart glasses are so incredibly cool, and while I have tried a lot of awesome tech over the years, smart specs have always seemed in a league of their own (in a great way). It’s a wearables category that I hope keeps thriving — we just need to make sure it grows the right way so that this dream tech doesn’t become a nightmare for many.

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