Italy’s data protection authority, Garante Privacy, said it has approached Facebook for clarifications on the privacy implications of its new smart glasses. The social media giant has teamed up with Italian Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica to create a new smart glasses product called Ray-Ban Stories, which feature a pair of cameras to take photos and videos, and software to subsequently share them across services such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat and more.
In a statement, Garante said it has asked the Irish data protection commissioner to ask Facebook for clarifications on the product’s compliance with privacy laws, above all “measures taken to protect people occasionally filmed, in particular minors, as well as any systems adopted to make data collected anonymous and features of the voice assistant connected to the glasses.”
In response Facebook said it had already engaged with the Irish DPC to share information on how built privacy has been built into the product design and functionality of the glasses and that it looks forward to continuing its collaboration with regulators in Europe.
When it launched the glasses, Facebook said they contain numerous privacy-focused features such as a power switch to turn off the cameras and microphone, plus hard-wired capture LED lights up to let people nearby know when users are taking a photo or video.
