Meta is launching an audio-only version of its popular smart glasses in Burbank and Clubmaster styles starting at $349, dropping built-in cameras to bypass widespread privacy backlash and public bans known as the pervert glasses controversy.
Smart glasses are shedding their lenses and cameras in a bid to survive public scrutiny. Meta introduced the Ray-Ban Meta Audio models at a major conference, dropping the camera entirely while retaining audio and artificial intelligence features. The new hardware comes in Burbank and Clubmaster styles, starts at $349, and begins shipping on October 13.
The Privacy Backlash Behind the Camera-Free Pivot
The Privacy Backlash Behind the Camera-Free Pivot
The push toward camera-free frames stems from intense public rejection of recording-capable eyewear. Industry observers and critics have tracked a severe backlash against camera-equipped devices like the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta HSTN, which earned the derogatory moniker pervert glasses following reports of influencers, pick-up artists, and stalkers recording unsuspecting individuals. Part of the bad perception of the Meta glasses has come from the kinds of videos that have gotten popular on social media filmed with the glasses. Pickup artists talking to women on the street and prank video makers harassing Walmart or other retail employees while wearing glasses became the two dominant types of content.
Public discomfort over subtle recording devices led venues and events to take direct action. Nightclubs, restaurants, and other places have started banning patrons from wearing Meta glasses inside, while organized gatherings such as the DEFCON security conference and Rhode Island Comic-Con instituted strict bans on the hardware. Social media platforms also faced pressure; this summer, Instagram announced it would crack down on the pickup artists, and started removing videos and sometimes even whole accounts of people who posted those videos (though as I previously reported, the enforcement has been somewhat spotty).
Hardware Differences and Design Advantages
Hardware Differences and Design Advantages
Removing the camera offers tangible physical benefits for everyday wear. Without cameras, the frames can be lighter and therefore more comfortable (43 grams compared to 51 grams for the Gen 2 Wayfarer camera version). The audio-only glasses are also more stylish looking, with that classic flair in the corner of the Ray-Ban model where the camera would go. From the front, they look like regular Ray-Bans.
Despite lacking cameras, the new frames retain full AI functionality. You can ask Meta’s AI for things like a restaurant recommendation while you’re walking around. You can also talk in real time with Meta’s new AI agent, Muse, through the glasses. The open-ear audio design allows users to listen to music or podcasts on their Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, or make hands-free phone calls, or listen and respond to text messages while remaining fully aware of surrounding traffic and environmental sounds for safety.
Industry Responses and Future Wearable Norms
Industry Responses and Future Wearable Norms
Other manufacturers are attempting to navigate privacy concerns in different ways – without getting rid of the camera. The Taiwanese firm HTC recently launched Vive Eagle glasses, which cost less than a quarter of Snap’s, incorporating software features designed to deactivate the camera if anyone near an Eagle specs wearer says “stop filming” or “stop recording”, and it is picked up by one of the four microphones.
“We acknowledge that there are some challenges, potentially becoming a real problem, especially for women,”
Thomas Dexmier
Thomas Dexmier and HTC Vive
He said HTC Vive was working to make it as difficult as possible for the tech to be misused but said it was too early to comment
on whether the firm would consider a version without cameras. Thomas Dexmier, a vice president at HTC Vive, adds that all recordings captured by the glasses are encrypted, and the firm itself cannot see them – though this also means HTC cannot flag harmful content. Ultimately, Wood thinks that camera-enabled glasses are “not going away, drawing parallels to the 2000s, when some people said that mobile phone companies couldn't install cameras in their devices because of similar concerns over privacy.
There’s an inevitability there,he says, adding that society
will have to find a societal norm, a framework for the use of these products.”