Frankfurt: A German digital rights group has filed a criminal complaint against Meta and several companies involved in the sale of its AI-powered smart glasses, arguing that the devices breach German privacy laws.Advocacy organisation HateAid said the complaint targets Meta, subsidiaries of eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica, including Ray-Ban, and retailers Fielmann, Apollo-Optik, Mister Spex and MediaMarkt.The complaint centres on the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer smart glasses, which HateAid says could enable people to be recorded without their knowledge."There's no place to escape from smart glasses. You have to expect at any moment to be filmed and then exposed on the internet," said HateAid Managing Director Josephine Ballon.The organisation submitted the complaint to Germany's digital crime prosecution unit ZIT, based in Frankfurt.Privacy concernsHateAid said its complaint relies on a federal data protection law that prohibits the sale of communication devices designed to secretly record people.The group argues that smart glasses represent a growing privacy risk, particularly as image-based digital abuse becomes more widespread."Smart glasses now allow a particularly inconspicuous surveillance technology to be disguised as an everyday object," the organisation said.HateAid added that it has seen increasing cases of image-based digital violence, particularly targeting women.Regulator monitoring marketGermany's communications regulator, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), said it is closely monitoring developments in the smart glasses market but has not launched a formal investigation.A spokesperson said ownership, import and sale of smart glasses are not prohibited provided recording functions are clearly visible to others."The ownership, import or sale of smart glasses are not banned ... for as long as the recording function is clearly visible, for instance via an optical signal," the spokesperson said.The regulator had previously stated in 2023 that devices designed for covert audio or video recording are prohibited under German law.Companies yet to respondMister Spex said it had not been officially informed of the complaint but stressed that it takes privacy protection seriously.Meta, EssilorLuxottica, the other retailers named in the complaint and ZIT did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.The latest action adds to growing scrutiny of AI-enabled wearable devices in Germany, where privacy protections are among the strictest in Europe.
