Overview
- WIRED’s code analysis published Monday found substantial, dormant components of an unreleased system called NameTag inside the Meta AI companion app for Meta’s smart glasses.
- The embedded code was designed to turn captured faces into biometric 'faceprints,' compare them to a device-stored database, and crop and index unrecognized faces for later processing.
- Meta told WIRED the work was exploratory, said nothing had shipped to consumers, and called the reporting sensational while senior executives publicly criticized the coverage.
- WIRED later reported that Meta removed most NameTag components from the app the day after the story, but the company declined to answer detailed questions about any face-profile database, how long images or biometric data were kept, or opt-in plans.
- The episode follows past legal fights over facial data and has privacy groups urging tougher rules, raising straightforward risks for users such as nonconsensual identification and possible misuse unless states or regulators act.