The Kodak Fiends Are Back

In the late 1880s a new kind of pocket camera set off a panic: strangers photographed on beaches and promenades, sometimes with lenses disguised as buttons. That panic helped give us the legal idea of privacy. It never gave us a right not to be photographed. In autumn 2026, with hundreds of Dutch women and girls filmed in secret with Meta glasses, retailers pulling stock and Norway proposing a ban, the main protection for bystanders is a small LED. Hamburg's data regulator took it outside and tested it. Wren and Theo follow the line from Abigail Roberson's face on twenty-five thousand flour posters to a light that dims, or stays dark, when the glasses' AI looks at the world. They also hear from the blind and low-vision people who call these glasses life-changing and fear being shut out by bans. Meta's explanation for the LED behaviour during AI queries was not in our research. Sources: https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/privacy/Privacy_brand_warr2.html https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/detective-camera-stirns-waistcoat-camera/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-rise-of-the-camera-launched-a-fight-to-protect-gilded-age-americans-privacy-180984656/ https://www.history.com/articles/first-legal-battle-likeness-rights-privacy-photography-usa https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberson_v._Rochester_Folding_Box_Co https://scholarship.law.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1818&context=lawreview&httpsredir=1 https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1343&context=cardozoaelj https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/columnists/memmott/2019/01/15/abigail-roberson-privacy/2577870002/ https://nltimes.nl/2026/10/01/hundreds-dutch-women-girls-filmed-meta-glasses-creep-sites-lawsuit-planned https://thenextweb.com/news/hans-anders-meta-ray-ban-glasses-netherlands-belgium https://www.gadgetgear.nl/2026/10/wehkamp-en-hans-anders-stoppen-met-verkoop-meta-camerabril/ https://dig.watch/updates/dutch-retailers-suspend-meta-smart-glasses-sales https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/vil-innfore-midlertidig-forbud-mot-ki-briller/id3175516/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/05/norway-temporary-ban-smart-glasses-public-places https://vr.org/articles/norway-temporary-ai-glasses-ban-device-definition-hans-anders-2026 https://www.livemint.com/ai/smart-glasses-privacy-concerns-grow-norway-australia-uk-and-us-curb-meta-ray-ban-use-11791345229200.html https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/06/meta-ai-smart-glasses-privacy https://datenschutz-hamburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/HmbBfDI/Datenschutz/Informationen/260910_HmbBfDI_Abschlussbericht_Ray_Ban_Meta_AI_Glasses_EN.pdf https://www.consumentenbond.nl/acties-claims/nieuws/2026/camerabril-kan-stiekem-filmen-ondanks-updates https://www.notebookcheck.net/Meta-fixed-the-capture-LED-but-it-still-failed-testing-in-Hamburg.1405004.0.html https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/2/24260262/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-doxxing-privacy https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmx2qlz7ney2o https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/08/ai-smartglasses-camera-film-privacy-consent https://www.europesays.com/australia/114597/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/14/smart-glasses-controversy-sidelines-the-benefits-for-disabled-people