Extortion Using Smart Glasses Is a Thing Now

[highplainsdem]

Source: Gizmodo

There’s a growing number of reasons to be skeptical about camera-equipped smart glasses, and you can now add extortion to that list. According to a report from the BBC, a woman who asked not to be named was recently filmed covertly while shopping in London by a man wearing smart glasses. That interaction was later posted to social media, where it racked up tens of thousands of views.

That story, unfortunately, isn’t a new phenomenon. As other investigations have noted, smart glasses like the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses are used regularly by men—specifically men—to record women discreetly for content purposes. What makes this particular case reported by the BBC worse is that the man in question allegedly asked for money in exchange for taking the video down, claiming that removal was a “paid service.”

According to the BBC, the video was eventually taken down after being reported for violating TikTok’s rules on harassment and bullying, and the man’s account was banned. The footage was, however, later reposted to a different social media site. The BBC reached out to the person who filmed the interaction, who, of course, denies trying to extort anyone, and the police—who were reportedly contacted—say they don’t have enough information to launch an investigation.

In a nutshell, this is exactly the type of thing that has people up in arms about smart glasses as a category. While recording people discreetly can be done with a phone, holding a glass slab in front of someone’s face is a lot more likely to be clocked. The fact that the woman in this incident didn’t know she was being filmed at all should tell you a lot, since it means the privacy light (and LED that lights up when you record) on the smart glasses being used was obscured or not visible enough to catch her attention.

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Read more: https://gizmodo.com/extortion-using-smart-glasses-is-a-thing-now-2000755562

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BBC news video from 6 hours ago:

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cdxpqg22q34o

Have to wonder how often that creep - or others like him - extorted victims successfully without getting reported to media or the police.

[niyad]

1. May all involved receive everything they deserve.

[blue-wave]

2. Laws about filming people in public

will have to change or this whole extortion racket will get bigger. Filming you with malicious intent should never be allowed. The stiffer the fines and jail time the better.

[mwmisses4289]

3. Great good gods, how much more fucking info do the lazy cops need before they launch an investigation?!?

Or are some of them in on it?!?

[niyad]

16. Your last sentence would be my guess.

[FakeNoose]

4. Maybe women need to be doing this to men ... for example to ID men who attack or abuse them

Just sayin' that it works both ways

[wnylib]

9. .

[Buddyzbuddy]

5. I wonder if it will stop when Republican party

"parties" start getting recorded and shared.

[Cheezoholic]

6. Have to wonder how many pedo's are sitting around parks and playgrounds with these on. very dangerous n/t

[Skittles]

7. the store was probably already recording her too

yup

[Jose Garcia]

8. Yes, but they probably aren't going to post it on the internet

[Skittles]

10. so they are posting every day activity

and acting like it is porn?

[Jose Garcia]

14. The video supposedly went viral

So I suspect there is a bit more to the story than we are bring told here.

[Skittles]

15. ya THINK?

yup

[Fil1957]

11. I think that's horrible and there should probably be some laws restricting wanton recording, but what's the hook?

I mean blackmailing someone for everyday activity? If someone caught me on video shopping and threatened to post it on the internet, would I even care? I don't think so.

[Skittles]

12. especially with people who put their lives on FB, Instagram, etc

I always assume I could be filmed at any time - yeah I know, doesn't make it right, etc

[cannabis_flower]

13. Yeah, I don't know if...

I would be doing as anything that I could be extorted with. Now maybe if I was a Karen (apologies to nice women who just happen to be named Karen) or if I was running around practically naked. But I try not to be a Karen or do things I would be ashamed of in public.

[niyad]

17. One wonders how that fucking bastard manipulated the video, just

like they do for still images. And think about this for a minute. We know nothing about this woman's life. She may have an abusive ex she is hiding from. Or she might be in GB's witsec program. Or she is just an ordinary citizen who objects to this kind of violation. Whatever her situation, what that fucking scum did was wrong. There are some very sick sites, and very sick people out there. And people have every right not to be brought unknowingly, unwillingly, to the attention of the sickos.