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Show HN: Glasses to detect smart-glasses that have cameras (github.com)

509 points by nullpxl ↗ HN
Hi! Recently smart-glasses with cameras like the Meta Ray-bans seem to be getting more popular. As does some people's desire to remove/cover up the recording indicator LED. I wanted to see if there's a way to detect when people are recording with these types of glasses, so a little bit ago I started working this project. I've hit a little bit of a wall though so I'm very much open to ideas!

I've written a bunch more on the link (+photos are there), but essentially this uses 2 fingerprinting approaches: - retro-reflectivity of the camera sensor by looking at IR reflections. mixed results here. - wireless traffic (primarily BLE, also looking into BTC and wifi)

For the latter, I'm currently just using an ESP32, and I can consistently detect when the Meta Raybans are 1) pairing, 2) first powered on, 3) (less consistently) when they're taken out of the charging case. When they do detect something, it plays a little jingle next to your ear.

Ideally I want to be able to detect them when they're in use, and not just at boot. I've come across the nRF52840, which seems like it can follow directed BLE traffic beyond the initial broadcast, but from my understanding it would still need to catch the first CONNECT_REQ event regardless. On the bluetooth classic side of things, all the hardware looks really expensive! Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks!

49 comments

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dotancohen
Interesting idea. It seems to me that most things which would need to be protected from hidden cameras would be stationary and not require the operator to mount the detectors on his body, but starting with mobile constraints is often helpful.

I would like to draw attention to this gem of wit, easily the best I've seen in a long time:

> I think the idea behind this approach is sound (actually it's light)

_ache_
Thank you for the technical write up. I have no expertise in the BTE area but it's clear enough for me to understand.

The swap pattern is very interesting but even if it's silly, maybe experimenting with an actual camera to detect cameras may give you a good base line to what to expect from a working Rayban banner.

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Scramblejams
Cool project, but I'd use the first mode to look for hidden cameras at Airbnbs!
dmead
Do you have a parts list for what's in the zuck glasses?
arionmiles
Pretty neat idea! I love the BLE detection approach, would be pretty amazing if this works. I'll be following this with some interest!
wowamit
A much-needed project. Making yourself invisible to such privacy-invasive devices will be the need of the day. Of the two approaches you mentioned, blocking/jamming the specific wireless traffic would be pretty interesting, if possible.
okincilleb
This is seriously neat. Love the name too
sspiff
I remember seeing some celebrities in the late 00s / early 10s with IR-emitting sunglasses or accessories to flood the camera sensors of paparazzi and make it harder for photographers to get spyshots of them.

Would this approach work for these camera glasses as well, simply flooding them with so much IR spectrum light that their sensors simply can't see you anymore?

mcny
Putting myself in the shoes of a qa for a second...

What is the cheapest way for me to trigger a false positive on such a detection device?

And what can we do about it?

Rinse and repeat until the cheapest cost exceeds a standard pair of smart glasses.

byyoung3
next: smart glasses app to detect glasses that can detect smart glasses that have cameras
d--b
Taping over the recording indicator is illegal.

Is there any way your device can find the MAC address of the glasses through bluetooth or something and file a lawsuit automatically?

SamDc73
I would love to actually buy a similar product (but a one that won't make you look like a Frankenstein)
9dev
Does anyone work on smart glasses for blind people yet? Something with blackened glass, obviously, that uses image recognition to translate visual input into text via (headphone) audio to the wearer.

That would allow for urgent warnings (approaching a street, walking towards obstacle [say, an electric scooter or a fence]), scene descriptions on request, or help finding things in the view field. There's probably a lot more you could do with this to help improve quality of life for fully blind people.

thinkling
I was just reading about an app in the iOS App Store called Seeing AI that "narrates the world around you". (All disclaimers apply, this is exactly all I know about it.)
thrdbndndn
Sorry I'm still confused. Do you have a reliable way to detect if a smart glass is recording or not? I never used smart-glasses regularly, but wouldn't it be "on" all the time if one is using it, so detecting the power-on and pairing is kinda useless?
DonHopkins
Now integrate it with ink jet technology to spray the offending camera lens like a squid!
foormanek
One more gizmo throwing IR at MY eyes? No, thanks!
zppln
I was thinking about this just the other day. You're on your way to implementing your own real-life stealth meter! Very cool!
egeres
Super interesting project, at first I thought it would be a naive implementation of YOLO but I wasn't aware about retro-reflections. The papers he linked in the GH discuss very interesting ideas
icoder
Comparable to what I read someone say about AI the other day: we're living in the small sliver of history where smart-glasses with cameras are technically feasible yet are still (kind of) detectable.
Intralexical
There's no reason why stealth technology should have to advance faster than detection technology. In fact, in many applications with strong incentives to advance both stealth and detection capabilities, the modern world has trended towards being increasingly transparent.

If we culturally/economically wanted it, I'm sure we could all have cheap nonlinear junction detectors in our pockets.

keepamovin
I look forward to the social media rage meltdown shorts that widespread adoption of this tech will precipitate. I think I'm kidding. I should be kidding. But I am curious...

Question for people who resonate with this: whenever someone is holding their cellphone at an angle that "could be inferred" to be imaging you, how do you feel and think?

I grew up on Earth before the cellpocalypse (phone zombies, etc), and went through a stage of noticing all these new 'cameras' everywhere, but then I stoppped attending to it.

jeffrallen
An eye for an eye and soon everyone's blind...