Deutsche Tageszeitung - Google Smart Glasses Privacy: Bystander Face Removal Limits

Google’s new smart glasses will remove the faces of bystanders from images before they are processed by the company’s Gemini artificial intelligence model, according to a blog post published on November 12. The tech giant described this protection specifically for images sent to Gemini when a wearer asks about what they are seeing, but did not clarify whether the feature extends to photos and videos saved directly to the device’s gallery.

Shahram Izadi, Google’s vice president and general manager for XR, wrote in the post that "when technology can see the world around you, it has a responsibility to the people around you, too." The glasses, developed in collaboration with Samsung, feature frames designed by Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. They are scheduled to go on sale in the United States and South Korea on December 10, with prices starting at $395. Users can activate the AI by saying "Hey Gemini" or press a button to capture photos and videos.

While the face-removal promise clearly covers images transmitted to Gemini for analysis, the application of this safeguard to other recordings remains unclear. To understand the practical implications, five common usage scenarios were examined.

In the first scenario, a wearer looks at a street mural and asks, "Hey Gemini, who painted this?" The glasses capture an image of the artwork, which also includes people walking past in the background. In a second scenario, a user records a video of friends at a café; other customers are visible in the background, some engaged in conversation. A third scenario involves recording someone without permission, such as filming a stranger on the metro or patients in a hospital waiting room.

A fourth scenario presents a conflict between privacy and utility: a wearer records a threat on the street for evidence and later asks Gemini to help draft a police complaint using that video. For the recording to serve as valid evidence, it must show the stranger’s face, potentially requiring the bypass or reversal of any automatic blurring. In a fifth scenario, a user opens a translation app to read a menu in a busy restaurant; the app uses the camera, capturing an image that also includes other diners.

MediaNama sent questions to Google on November 13 regarding these gallery recordings and is awaiting a response. Google has not yet announced an India launch for its smart glasses. In contrast, Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses have been available in India since May 2025, where users have already recorded bystanders. Most of these incidents began as ordinary recordings that wearers later posted online.

In July, Meta updated its glasses to disable the camera if someone tampers with the recording light. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, stated that the platform would remove videos that harass people. However, as of October, sellers on Amazon India were still listing stickers designed to block the recording light.

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act does not apply to personal data processed by individuals for personal or domestic purposes. Its core provisions will take effect only in May 2027. No Indian court has yet decided whether a glasses maker is liable when its device records a bystander. Until a court settles this question, bystanders depend largely on safeguards such as those Google describes.

(L.Svenson--DTZ)