Italy’s DPA seeks privacy clarity on Facebook’s smart glasses

The social media giant has created the eyewear with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica. Wearers can capture photos and short videos and share them across Facebook’s services using a companion app.

Garante said it wanted to be informed on measures Facebook has put in place to protect people filmed, particularly children; any systems adopted to make data collected anonymous; and features of the voice-assistant connected to the glasses.

The Italian authority is asking the questions via its counterpart in Ireland. The Irish data protection commissioner (DPC) leads oversight of Facebook in the EU because the company’s European headquarters are in Ireland.

A Facebook spokesperson said: “We know people have questions about new technologies, so before the launch of Ray-Ban Stories we engaged with the Irish DPC to share how we’ve built privacy into the product design and functionality of the glasses to give both device owners and people around them peace of mind.

“We’ll answer questions from Garante through the Irish DPC and we look forward to our continued collaboration with regulators in Europe,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.