Meta quietly removed facial-recognition code from its smart glasses app, WhatsApp says spyware maker NSO Group is still targeting its users, and the UK will review its NHS contract with Palantir

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Meta quietly removed its facial recognition code from its smart glasses app.
WhatsApp says spyware maker NSO Group is still targeting its users.
And the UK will review its NHS contract with US software firm Palantir.
It's Tuesday, June 9th, and here's a quick look at some of the news happening in and around tech this morning from Engadget.
Only a day after a dormant bit of code that seemed to be a facial recognition algorithm was discovered in a companion app for its smart glasses, Meta released an update which removed that code. That's according to a report by Wired. The publication at first uncovered the suspicious code internally dubbed nametag within Meta, while reviewing code for a Meta AI app which handles some core features of the glasses. So, in other words, the same app necessary for pairing Meta smart glasses to a user's phone over Bluetooth, was also ready to start harvesting every face a user passed by while wearing them. Wired uncovered the dormant code on June 4th. It contained algorithms which would have converted photos of faces into biometric identifiers, stored on device and cross-referenced with each new facial scan. On June 5th, an update was released which removed it entirely. In February, the New York Times had reported that Meta was working to bring facial recognition to its glasses. Given that the Times heard the internal moniker name tag bandied about at that time, the code discovered by Wired was likely the fruit of those efforts. The workings of the tool suggest that it might have been intended as a way for users to more easily identify people they had previously met. A handy feature for forgetful folks, no doubt, but also an extremely creepy and invasive solution to a very common interpersonal dilemma. Most people would probably rather someone simply admit to having forgotten their name than to have their likeness ingested by a face-mounted camera. Meta smart glasses are made in partnership with popular Luxottica brands including Ray-Ban and Oakley. They are already raising some hackles with Manosphere-adjacent social media influencers using them to harass and record women. Back in December, a woman was accused of breaking a man's Meta glasses on the New York City subway. Meta was also hit with a class action suit in March after a Swedish newspaper investigation revealed that Kenyan workers were reviewing footage from the company's smart glasses, including sexual intimacy and bathroom use, which seemed to have been taken without the owner's knowledge. In a statement given to Wired on Monday, Meta vice president of communications Andy Stone was quoted saying that the feature was only a pilot effort and that the company had not made a final decision on what to do here, if anything. That may be true, but real Meta employees were paid real money to spend their real time writing, reviewing and shipping that code in a live product. That it was never activated is likely to be cold comfort, not only for owners who may not want to turn themselves into mobile data harvesting tools, but also for the people in those users' lives, who may not want their faces unknowingly analyzed. The very fact that the code was so swiftly removed and PR statements issued suggests that Meta knows it's walking a tightrope with these types of invasive features.
Meta is once again asking a court to intervene in its long-running battle against spyware maker NSO Group. The company says it's disrupted a spearfishing attempt that targeted WhatsApp users and is now asking a federal court to hold NSO in contempt. Meta's battle with the company behind the infamous Pegasus spyware dates back to 2019, when it sued the cyber intelligence firm for targeting human rights activists, journalists, political dissidents and others. A jury last year awarded Meta $167 million in damages, which was later reduced by a judge to $4 million. That judgment also came with a permanent injunction that banned NSO from targeting WhatsApp and its users. Less than a year later, Meta says it's called NSO violating the terms of that order. According to the company, it called a cluster of NSO-linked accounts that were attempting to trick WhatsApp users into clicking on malicious links that were similar to other phishing campaigns that have been tied to the spyware maker. According to a Meta spokesperson, the latest phishing campaign targeted fewer than 10 WhatsApp users who were primarily in Jordan and Lebanon. In its disclosure, Meta shared the domains it identified that were associated with the phishing campaign so that others can check if they have been targeted on WhatsApp or another platform.