What if our glasses were watching us? From concert scandals to stealthy tech, are we trading intimacy for innovation?

Boston. The Gillette Stadium is packed for the Coldplay concert. While Chris Martin sings on stage, the kiss cam pans across the audience and stops on a couple tenderly embracing and enjoying the music. Romantic, right? Well, not quite. When the two see themselves on the jumbotron, panic sets in. She covers her face and turns away. He ducks down, trying to avoid the camera. Meanwhile, Martin remarks, “I hope I didn’t do anything wrong.” Before the embarrassment even has time to fade, the video goes viral and the couple’s identities are revealed: the man is the CEO of a tech company, and the woman, head of HR, is not his wife. The result? A global stage for a private betrayal. And what if this became the new normal? Because creating devices that can film without anyone noticing seems to be the latest obsession of Big Tech.

The Waves glasses: a device that records in “stealth mode”

The day after the cheating couple was exposed, Chris Samra, CEO and co-founder of Symphonic Labs, and a known Elon Musk fan (he lists him as one of his inspirations… no comment), announced the launch of Waves, a pair of smart glasses with a tiny camera embedded at the center. The new model claims to let users secretly record video, allowing them to “stay in the moment” while also capturing whatever they want.

In the launch video for Waves, a young man live-streams his evening. He’s at a party, snapping selfies and recording everything with his glasses: two guys pushing a third, fully clothed, into a pool; a beer pong match; a secret poker game (complete with a briefcase full of cash); and, finally, a meet-cute with a woman also wearing the glasses. Samra captioned the video, shared on X, with the phrase "Record in stealth." Unsurprisingly, that sparked a wave of criticism. The same feature that’s marketed as a breakthrough is also what worries many: the ability to record any private moment at will. All while violating the privacy of whoever ends up in the frame of this invisible camera. Sound disturbing? Especially when it’s being sold as cutting-edge innovation?

Smart innovation or invisible surveillance?

Waves isn’t the first pair of glasses with a built-in camera to hit the market recently. The most well-known example is the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, a collaboration between Meta (Mark Zuckerberg’s company) and EssilorLuxottica. Originally unveiled in October 2023, they’re now about to release a second-generation model. But the privacy issue remains. On April 29 of this year, Ray-Ban Meta users received an email announcing a privacy policy update. From then on, Meta would have even more control over their data. According to the new policy, Meta AI is enabled by default on the glasses, unless turned off via voice command, and audio recordings are stored for up to a year “to help improve Meta products.” In short, the company aims to collect even more user data, using it to train their AI algorithms.

Social media, privacy, and intimacy: what are we willing to sacrifice?

How did we get to the point where we feel compelled to film every moment of our lives, just to share it on social media? To prove how cool we are, that we were there, ate that dish, kissed that guy, or just got a manicure? The urge to constantly showcase our lives online has created a world where privacy is a luxury. What would happen if, for once, we chose not to broadcast every minute of our day? The universe wouldn’t implode. But instead of offering healthier ways to disconnect from screens, whether phones or laptops, Big Tech is giving us more wearable devices. They free our hands, sure, but they imprison our freedom, locking us into a permanent performance for the camera. Who really benefits from all this? Maybe it’s time we ask ourselves that question.