Black Market Tinkerers on Facebook Marketplace Offer to Hide 'Recording Lights' on Meta Smartglasses (thenewthings.com)
- Reference: 0183651932
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/06/07/2215203/black-market-tinkerers-on-facebook-marketplace-offer-to-hide-recording-lights-on-meta-smartglasses
- Source link: https://thenewthings.com/p/i-paid-someone-to-hack-my-meta-glasses
> STERN: "They're hiring people on Facebook Marketplace to drill out the light for as much as $100. According to our reporting, folks are offering this service in at least 30 states — despite Meta's attempts to stop it... In most states, we found multiple listings. In the New York and New Jersey area alone there were 23 listings."
Stern [2]watched a man in New Jersey disable and then conceal the light with a drill and dental probe in a New Jersey garage (a skill he learned watching YouTube and TikTok videos). He said the same day he'd already been contacted by eight more interested customers, and Stern also found at least 10 other people willing to do the same thing, just in New Jersey. "But what we found is they're all over the country."
Meta sold 7 million smartglasses in 2025, but a Meta spokesperson insisted to the videomaker that a "majority" of their smartglasses owners aren't blocking the recording light. And furthermore, they added "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." (The reporter acknowledges "many" of the Marketplace ads disappeared after they brought them to Meta's attention — and Meta also said they were working with other retailers and sellers to take down listings for smartglasses-tampering parts.)
The reporter also heard from one journalist who said they'd used it so they could record the activities of federal immigration agents without being targeted. "Others told me they just don't want people asking questions when they're recording." (There's video of one young man saying "It's already difficult enough to film in public. I don't want to have a blinking light on my face.")
Tampering with smartglasses isn't illegal — though it is against Meta's Terms of Service, and could void your warranty. But a lawyer in the report says recording others without consent may be illegal, depending on a wide range of "jurisdictional nuances" like whether you live in an all-party consent state or a one-party consent state. "This seems to be our new reality," the report concludes: "more cameras, more microphones everywhere, and less certainty about who and what is recording." (Tech blogger John Gruber [3]offered this assessment . "Using a Meta platform to find people to hack a Meta device so you can surreptitiously record strangers. So perfectly Meta.")
Stern's report points out that "People are trying to fight back. Apps have popped up that use Bluetooth to scan for nearby camera glasses." (In the video one app-maker wonders why Meta isn't offering the same service themselves. "There are technical solutions to these problems.")
Ironically, when I watched the report on YouTube, it was preceded by... an ad for Meta's Ray-Ban AI smartglasses.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaJSPeJmqis
[2] https://thenewthings.com/p/i-paid-someone-to-hack-my-meta-glasses
[3] https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/06/03/the-underworld-market-to-remove-the-recording-indicator-light-on-meta-glasses
[Movie trailer voice] (Score:2)
> ... drill out the light for as much as $100.
In a World where electrical tape and black markers don't exist ...
More to the point, a permanent alteration seems dumb, especially if you ever want a working light or want to resell them.
Re: (Score:2)
Nail polish is even easier and more effective. And as a bonus you can do thinner layers for when you want some visibility still.
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> Nail polish is even easier and more effective. And as a bonus you can do thinner layers for when you want some visibility still.
Black wax.
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But...who would pay $100 for electrical tape or black markers? I mean, that's the real goal here, the $100!
good (Score:1)
We should not exist in a regulatory regime that is dictated by the whims of tech companies.
Glass holes (Score:2)
I was thinking of getting a dash cam for my car. But i call these people glass holes. Would that make me a dash hole? It is not really that different, the dash cam does not notify it is recording either.
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> I was thinking of getting a dash cam for my car. But i call these people glass holes. Would that make me a dash hole?
No.
Re:Glass holes (Score:4, Insightful)
> "I was thinking of getting a dash cam for my car. But i call these people glass holes. Would that make me a dash hole? It is not really that different, the dash cam does not notify it is recording either."
I, indeed, would call people going around recording everyone from a face advantage "glass holes".
No, a dashcam or fixed security camera is not at all the same. A glass hole is a person who is recording people face-to-face without the other knowing. In such a situation, you are recording a conversation/interaction and often in a place that is not fully "public". It is a major betrayal of a social norm/social contract.
I don't know about you, but I do expect I might be recorded outside driving a car, in a store, even a restaurant. They might be brief interactions, rarely focused directly on just me, and rarely with audio. I do not expect to be directly recorded by someone in my home, at the table in a restaurant, in a doctor's exam room, in a bathroom, during a business meeting, etc.
In a situation where it is not socially acceptable to hold your phone up to someone in a "I am recording you" posture, it is certainly less acceptable to be doing it with a head-mounted camera/microphone... and even less so if there is zero indication it is a recording device and is actually doing so at the time.
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> Would that make me a dash hole
No. The average dash cam records to an SD card, the footage untouched until you need it in case of an accident, or for uploading amusing content to YT. Glassholes don't just record, they stream. To their own channel, and/or to the Meta mothership, for god knows what purpose. That footage is going to be analyzed, AI-ized and monetized 6 ways from Sunday.
Gaslighting much? (Score:1)
How is it in any way a black market?
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"it is against Meta's Terms of Service, and could void your warranty"
Apparently so.
I can list an empty root beer can for $100 (Score:2)
Just because there are FB marketplace listings offering to remove the flashing LED from smart glasses, that doesn't necessarily mean there's a huge market for such services. It reminds me of how a few years ago, a kid made a troll post on some drug forum about Jenkem, and without doing any checking whatsoever to see if there really was any legitimacy to the claims that kids were getting high on fermented human feces, several news outlets just ran with it.
Now, I'm sure there certainly are people who've take
There is a Technical Fix but Requires Legislation (Score:2)
Because although the smart glass makers could build it in themselves, they won't unless forced to.
Have the light send a coded pulse that is based on time and a unique key, like with authenticator apps. Before the glass will record anything you have to look at a mirror. If the camera detected the coded signal it will record, otherwise it won't (so no light blocking). During the day anytime it gets an image of the wearer in a reflection if the coded light is not detected it turns off (think random glass surfa
Easy way to go to prison (Score:1)
Good luck with that.
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Legal to record in public in USA, dont know how draconian your government is to allow for prison on editing a device you own.
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Dont really care why. Why are you scared of being recorded?
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Why does it matter? However creepy that may be, how is sitting across from someone and looking at them stalking? I can and will look at anything I want, any time I want, and I'll enforce that right any way necessary against any aggressor. And if I can look at anything I want, as long as I am not in a jurisdiction that bans recording, then I can record anything I want.
Are you going to gouge out that same "incel"'s eyes if he even looks at that "pretty girl"? How are you going to enforce making people for
Re: Easy way to go to prison (Score:2)
I basically agree with you that the idea of privacy-in-public is dead but a lot of people missed the memo. However. Even in todays strange world, a persons reputation can matter. A lot. If a person develops a reputation for being an unapologetic glasshole, that can have a LOT of consequences - professional, financial, legal, relational. And a reputation like that is VERY hard to shake once you build it. Even nowadays. There are some very public examples of as$holes that succeed in life, but theyre generally
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> "Legal to record in public in USA, dont know how draconian your government is to allow for prison on editing a device you own."
Indeed.
But it is also legal to ignore someone talking to you, or insult others, or wear tons of perfume, or skip a queue line, or not tipping at a restaurant despite good service, or allowing a door to close in someone's face, or using speakerphone around other people. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it is a good thing or OK thing to do.
Directly recording people at
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You can record back... not sure what the concern is here.
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> Legal to record in public in USA
It's not so clear-cut. First, what you probably meant to say is "there is no expectation of privacy in public" which is absolutely not the same as "legal to record in public."
First, obviously, you must be in a public space. The moment you enter private property - which includes all businesses and even spaces like most parking lots - you have no right to record there. If a person has "a reasonable expectation of privacy" at a location, even if it's a public space, you gen
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Thanks for the heads up. I almost wore my new glasses, tie clip, name badge, hat band, and smiley face button on my way to the parking lot. It would have been a huge waste of time since the ship has already sailed.