New app warns you: people are looking at you through smart glasses

The new application allows the user to record the fact of being monitored using smart glasses. After all, it doesn’t matter to you through what glasses you are viewed. The main thing is to fight back. Maybe passive. Facial recognition isn't everyone's cup of tea.

A new application is Nearby Glasses. This is a free and open source program for detecting smart glasses in your environment, writes xrust. The app cannot accurately identify the user wearing the smart glasses or their location. However, it gives you a chance to notice a person wearing smart glasses.

• Outdoors, the app works from 32 to 50 feet;
• indoors, in a crowd, this distance is reduced to 10-32 feet — sufficient to identify a person wearing smart glasses nearby.

The developer wrote to Futurism: My scientific work on gender dynamics made me wary of smart glasses from the very beginning. Common sense warned me. Covert recording has a lot to do with power. So I was worried from the start when Meta announced it was reviving the idea of ​​Google Glass. This may have been heavily influenced by my research topic, but it could just as easily have been influenced by all the reports and articles I've read about digital violence and hate speech over the last twenty to thirty years.

The developer has experimented with various programming languages ​​for several decades, but stipulates that he never intended to build a career in information technology.

Nearby Glasses works by assigning Bluetooth SIG protocol numbers to devices—unique alphanumeric codes that identify devices by brand. Assigning numbers is mandatory for devices using Bluetooth, meaning devices made by companies such as Luxottica Group SpA — maker of Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses — are at least somewhat identifiable.

This detection method has limitations. First, since the codes are tied to the companies themselves, a false positive may occur if the manufacturer also produces other electronic products. For example, Meta also makes VR headsets, and it is possible that the application will mistakenly identify them as smart glasses.

At the moment, the Nearby Glasses application is in an early stage of development. It is only available for Android devices.

Xrust New application warns: they are looking at you through smart glasses