--- title: "Facebook: Taping Over Camera LED on Our Glasses is a TOS Violation" description: "Facebook has teamed up with Ray-Ban to come up with a pair of smart sun glasses that absolutely nobody asked for.The design is as creepy as it is familiar." date: "2021-09-10" modified: "2021-09-10" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-taping-camera-glasses-violation" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" tags: - "facebook" - "online privacy" - "smart glasses" - "the digest" --- # Facebook: Taping Over Camera LED on Our Glasses is a TOS Violation ![Facebook has teamed up with Ray-Ban to come up with a pair of smart sun glasses that absolutely nobody asked for.The design is as creepy as it is familiar.]() *\Image: Facebook\* ## Creeper Glasses Facebook has teamed up with Ray-Ban to come up with a pair of smart sun glasses that absolutely nobody asked for. The design is as creepy as it is familiar. There's a tiny, spy-sized camera mounted to the sunglasses frame so everybody can creep on their neighbor while going unnoticed. No [fancy augmented reality here]() — they're essentially a smartphone camera strapped to a pair of glasses. With a track record as abysmal as Facebook's [when it comes to privacy](), the announcement shouldn't come as too much of a shock — but you'd really think they would know better by now. Did we mention they cost $299? ## Ray-Banned A small LED light next to the camera is meant to warn those nearby that they're being recorded. Of course, anybody could just cover it up with a small piece of tape. But as Facebook Reality Labs VP Alex Himel [told *BuzzFeed News*](), that would be a violation of the glasses' terms of service agreement. Which, of course, is completely unenforceable. Thanks, Zuckerberg! ## Retconned Worse yet, the social network actually had to add the LED light to the sunglasses *after* consulting with privacy groups, according to *BuzzFeed*, meaning that they weren't even part of the original design. There have been countless failed and unsuccessful attempts to bring smart glasses to the market. There was [Google Glass]() and [Snapchat's Spectacles](), to name a few. Even Amazon [tried to make a buck off the trend](). Where that leaves the fate of Facebook's Ray-Bans is anybody's guess. It's a mystifying product that Facebook perhaps should've left on the R&D cutting-room floor. **READ MORE:** [Facebook Is Making Camera Glasses, Ha Ha Oh No]() \[*BuzzFeed News*\] **More on smart glasses:** *[These AR Smart Glasses Shoot Lasers Directly Onto Your Retina]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()