In 2013, Google set off a firestorm of privacy objections when it strapped a camera to people's faces with the release of Google Glass. In 2024, much of the scopophobia surrounding camera lenses has been evaporated from society as we became more used to the presence of smartphones and our social media-spearheaded snap-happy culture — to which the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses undoubtedly owe a portion of its success.
However, much like Gen Z's successful revivals of analog tech, flared jeans, and velour, two Harvard students are bringing back the fear of face-worn cameras after showcasing a piece of facial recognition tech that can identify the names, addresses, and phone numbers of strangers at a glance.
