Parisian book researcher Joy Hui Lin was innocently walking through Le Marais when two students cornered her with an invasive question: 'These glasses have been recording this whole time.'

The pair, wearing the infamous Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, were secretly filming without permission. It’s a small but telling example of how technology is blurring the line between public and private space.

Smart glasses are now an online craze, with influencers like Sayed Kaghazi and Cameron John using them to capture interactions with women on sunlit beaches and city nightlife corridors. Their antics have earned these devices a dubious nickname: 'pervert glasses.' But the issue of privacy is far from innocent.

Meta’s glasses are equipped with potentially invasive AI services, collecting footage sent to overseas contract workers for review. This has sparked a consumer protection lawsuit and raised concerns about face recognition technology being integrated into future models. Lawmakers have warned that these devices could lead to serious risks of stalking and harassment.

As communities organize against such practices, one Reddit user reported a man named Sherif recording his pickup techniques in Vancouver’s nightlife district, clearly upsetting many women who rejected his advances. The worrying reality is, are we becoming more paranoid or just more aware?