The same reasons that make smart glasses appealing to police are also a cause for concern to, well… other police. According to a report from The Guardian, the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) counterterrorism unit issued a memo earlier this year calling attention to the potential for smart glasses to be used as surveillance tools.
“The ability to covertly record inside a law enforcement or detention facility, could result in a security risk if proprietary information about cell layouts, camera placements, or officer patrol/site protection routines are released,” reads the memo, according to The Guardian.
The NYPD isn’t alone in its concern, either. The Guardian reports that there are dozens of other memos from police departments across the U.S. that express concern about the impact of smart glasses. Arguably the most ironic memo comes from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically from a joint counter-terrorism assessment team. While expressing concern for smart glasses-enabled surveillance, the DHS also reportedly showed interest in the benefits of smart glasses-enabled surveillance.
According to a report from journalist Ken Klippesntein, the DHS is developing its own smart glasses with plans to potentially imbue them with facial recognition. That technology could then be used to cross-reference a biometric database to “identify people in real time.” And by “people,” the DHS, of course, means people that it suspects have entered the country illegally. The DHS has also been identified as using smart glasses to record protests in the past.
However ironic police departments’ concern over smart glasses is, it also makes a lot of sense. Pairs like those made by Meta are an ideal form factor for recording discreetly, even despite the existence of the “capture LED,” which is a light on the front of the glasses that blinks when recording is in progress. As The Guardian notes, the capture LED has a somewhat spotty track record—even if people do see it, they don’t always know that it indicates a recording is in progress.
For sensitive police operations, that could be a problem, since I’m sure the last thing you want criminals or would-be terrorists to do is have a whole bunch of intel on what you’re doing and when. That’s the thing about smart glasses, though—even with safeguards, controlling how they’re used once they’re on people’s faces is a losing battle. Suffice it to say that easy surveillance can be a double-edged sword.
