Police departments and federal agencies across the United States are warning that Meta’s camera-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses could be used to record inside jails and police facilities, according to a dozen previously unreported memos obtained through freedom-of-information requests and reported by The Guardian.

The New York Police Department’s counterterrorism bureau, which works with the FBI, circulated one of the first warnings in January. It described Ray-Ban Meta glasses as a “security and counterintelligence” threat and instructed officers to inspect all eyewear permitted into inmate cells. Covert recording inside a facility, the memo warned, could expose “cell layouts, camera placements, or officer patrol/site protection routines.”

The NYPD memo cited two videos. One, posted to TikTok in July 2025, showed the interior of a South Carolina detention center that was then under federal investigation over unsafe conditions. The footage showed cells, washing and eating facilities, and detainees who appeared unaware they were being filmed.

“Everyone here is trying to figure out what’s going on with my glasses, why my light is blinking,” the wearer said. “People don’t know about Meta glasses.”

Cameras pointed the other way

The documents were obtained by Property of the People, a transparency nonprofit. Its executive director, Ryan Shapiro, called the agencies’ objections self-serving.

“These agencies surveil the public incessantly, but the moment we can watch them back, it’s deemed a security threat,” Shapiro told The Guardian. “When only the government is allowed to hold the camera, that’s not security. It’s impunity.”

Similar memos came from the Department of Homeland Security’s joint counterterrorism assessment team and fusion centers in New York, Maine, Virginia, Tennessee and San Diego. A Maine memo circulated in June warned that some smart glasses “can leverage AI software including facial recognition,” which it said could be used to dox officers.

Federal agencies have also begun restricting the glasses among their own personnel. In August, Immigration and Customs Enforcement told staff that smart glasses qualify as body-worn cameras and cannot be worn in federal workspaces because they could “unintentionally capture, record or transmit sensitive information.” The responses described in the memos range from inspecting eyewear entering inmate cells to barring smart glasses from federal workspaces.

Meta told The Guardian that the glasses “are designed to be noticed,” citing the light that blinks while they record. The light is the only feature distinguishing them from ordinary Ray-Ban sunglasses, and the South Carolina video suggests it does not always prevent covert recording.

The company has faced related criticism throughout the year over the covert filming of women, contractors reviewing intimate footage, and plans to add facial-recognition capabilities.

Source: Decrypt