The intersection of wearable technology and artificial intelligence has hit another major privacy roadblock. Tech giant Meta is facing intense scrutiny after the discovery of hidden facial recognition code in the companion app for its smart glasses.
Security researchers warn that the unactivated software is designed to identify strangers in real-time using biometric data, reigniting a fierce global debate over Big Tech surveillance and digital privacy.
The Discovery of ‘NameTag’
The controversial code was uncovered in Meta’s AI companion app, which is currently installed on millions of smartphones worldwide to support its Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses models.
According to Cooper Quintin, a security researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) who helped verify the code, the feature is internally referred to as “NameTag.” The software uses the built-in cameras on the smart glasses to scan faces in the user’s line of sight.
“This dangerous new Meta functionality stores faceprints as a series of 2,048 numbers uniquely representing the positioning of a person’s facial features,” Quintin explained in a recent analysis. “When this feature is activated, it will convert every new face in the sightlines of the surveillance glasses into a series of numbers, and compare it to all the existing faceprints in the user’s database.”
Essentially, the glasses could allow a wearer to look at a stranger in public and instantly pull up their identity, provided their biometric data exists within the system’s reach.
Meta Responds: “Just Evidence of Exploration”
In response to the findings, Meta has downplayed the immediate risks, emphasizing that the features have not been rolled out to the public.
“We’ve said before we’re exploring these types of features, and what you’re seeing is just evidence of that exploration,” Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels stated. “Nothing has shipped to consumers, and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything.”
Daniels added that if Meta decides to move forward with a commercial rollout, the company will take a “thoughtful approach” with “full transparency.” Critically, Meta clarified that it is not building a centralized, master database of human faces to power the feature.
Convenient Timing?
Despite Meta’s assurances, privacy advocates remain deeply skeptical, pointing to the company’s internal deliberations. A leaked internal memo from last year revealed that Meta executives were considering launching facial recognition capabilities “during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”
This strategic timing has alarmed digital rights groups. More than 70 organizations have already signed an open letter calling on Meta to permanently abandon facial recognition plans for its wearables, citing severe safety risks. Critics argue that real-time identity matching on consumer glasses could easily be weaponized by stalkers, abusers, and bad actors in public spaces.
A Familiar Legal Battleground
This is far from Meta’s first controversy involving biometric data. In 2021, facing immense public and regulatory pressure, the company shut down its automated photo-tagging system on Facebook and deleted more than one billion user faceprints. That move followed a massive $650 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit centered around Illinois’ strict Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
As smart glasses grow in popularity and AI capabilities advance, the “NameTag” discovery highlights an uncomfortable reality: the hardware for omnipresent public surveillance is already sitting in millions of pockets and on millions of faces. Whether Meta decides to flip the switch remains the multi-billion-dollar question.