Open letter warns Meta against adding facial recognition to its smart glasses

A coalition of over 70 US-based civil society organisations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Fight for the Future, has demanded that Meta abandon plans to integrate facial recognition technology into its smart glasses. The feature, first reported by The New York Times in February and known internally as Name Tag, would allow wearers to identify strangers in public using Meta's AI assistant. 

Meta engineers are reportedly developing two versions: one that identifies existing contacts and another that identifies any user with a public account on platforms like Instagram.

In an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the coalition warned that the technology would empower stalkers, scammers, and federal agents to silently identify individuals without consent. The letter argues that this poses specific risks to "historically marginalised and vulnerable groups," and that safeguards or opt-out mechanisms cannot resolve the inherent privacy risks.

The coalition has also called for Meta to disclose any known instances of its wearables being used for harassment and to reveal any discussions with law enforcement regarding data access. 

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