A pair of smart glasses could reveal more about your identity than you might imagine. Students from Harvard have developed a system capable of transforming these accessories into personal spies.
Disguised as a simple pair of Ray-Bans, these glasses allow access to private information of strangers encountered in public. It's a concerning technology, but one the creators claim is meant to raise awareness about privacy dangers.
This device, named I-XRAY, operates by leveraging publicly available databases and accessible facial recognition tools, such as PimEyes. It quickly identifies individuals and retrieves information like names, addresses, or phone numbers. A demonstration on the Boston subway illustrated the effectiveness of the project.
The Ray-Bans used are equipped with nearly invisible cameras that capture the faces of passersby. The image obtained is analyzed within seconds, and matches are searched for online. Once identified, the personal data is sent to a dedicated app.
Although the project was developed in an academic context, the risks associated with the misuse of these tools are real. The students point out that companies like Clearview AI are already selling similar technologies to governments and security services.
Their initiative highlights a new potential threat to privacy, particularly in public spaces where anyone can become an easy target for surveillance. Anonymity in urban areas may soon become a thing of the past, ushering in an era of unprecedented digital traceability.
The I-XRAY connected glasses can recognize the faces of people they encounter and retrieve a large amount of confidential information about them.
The researchers emphasize that it is possible to limit access to one's personal information by requesting its removal from facial recognition platforms. However, these processes are not widely known to the public and are rarely applied.
Concern is growing as these technologies progress. The pressing question now is how to regulate them, as major companies are already working on more advanced products.
Author of this article: Cédric DEPOND