Meta tests police-linked facial recognition on smart glasses

Meta has been testing facial recognition software for its Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses using technology licensed from a defense and law enforcement contractor, according to a software license and code analysis. The license was issued by Denver-based Rank One Computing, a firm that earns roughly 80 percent of its revenue from government clients including the U.S. military and police departments.

The license, which remains active, authorized Meta to use Rank One’s facial recognition technology and its liveness detection feature, which determines if a camera is viewing a real person versus a photo or mask. It supported up to 10 million facial templates. Code remnants from Rank One’s integration were found dormant inside a version of the Meta AI app, the companion software for the smart glasses, which has been downloaded to more than 50 million phones.

This code sat alongside Meta’s own internal facial recognition system, called NameTag. Neither system was ever active for users. Meta deleted the facial recognition code from the app on June 5, one day after its presence was first reported. The company has declined to say why it licensed the software, when the relationship with...