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<div class="moz-forward-container">The article I recieved is below.</div>
<div class="moz-forward-container">It talks about cheap glasses over
timu k mart and others in australia.</div>
<div class="moz-forward-container">This is my responce to that
article.</div>
<div class="moz-forward-container">To be honest I am hardly
surprised.<br />
A lot of the good stuff costs a load, and the tech was bound to be
misused by someone or rather.<br />
That being said, how someone is so low to sell everything not
secured if beyond me.<br />
The fact this cheap stuff is being sold isn't a problem it was
bound to happen.<br />
The fact that ai and such is being misused is the same above.<br />
The fact in fact that things are happening that shouldn't is still
not a problem at all.<br />
The fact even that they are being hacked is also not a problem.<br />
The fact privacy is being breached and security is also not a
problem at all!<br />
All of that stuff happens anyway.<br />
Sor for me the user who will now avoid this stuff is how do we
know what is to good to be true and what is not especially with so
many things expensive, what do we look for as users.<br />
Then what is going to happen obviously this stuff must be stopped
and quickly.<br />
But will strengthening of the laws means legit users using the
tech responsibly be penalised for using it.<br />
Will it now be unsafe for someone to use them in public, will I
get attacked or charged or arrested for using the tech?<br />
Maybe its better I don't use it and skip the drama.<br />
I mean sure this needs to bee approached but all these laws will
now be rushed in to fix the current problem.<br />
Laws not ready for primetime.<br />
In practice what will that mean?<br />
Worst case scenario we vips will be breaching the law and going to
jail for using the tech at all or worse.<br />
Review of this stuff may or may not happen, I am not suggesting do
nothing but this is a turning point here.<br />
Then again, the law may come online and everything is accounted
for, the bad guys will burn in hell and the actual users will be
protected and my crying wolf will be all for nothing!<br />
However we all know that this is never the case.<br />
It may be a bit of both or it may not even happen.<br />
Bad if it doesn't but on the other hand, the way ai and tech is
speeding us up its no wander we have issues catching our tails.</div>
<div class="moz-forward-container"><br />
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<p><font face="Arial">https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/1521564/ultra-cheap-smart-glasses-leaving-australians-personal-data-exposed-to-hackers</font></p>
<div class="col-span-full">
<div class="image-ring relative -left-16 w-screen md:left-0 md:w-full"><img alt="PRODUCTION - 24 June 2026, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart: A woman is holding a pair of smart glasses from Ray-Ban Meta in her hand at an eyewear store. Because these glasses allow users to take photos and videos, some outdoor and indoor swimming pools are considering banning them. Photo: Christoph Schmidt/dpa (Photo by Christoph Schmidt / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP)" width="800" height="540" class="aspect-[16/10] h-full w-full object-cover" src="https://media.rnztools.nz/rnz/image/upload/s--SyiPlwDn--/t_kt-crop-16x10/w_800/f_auto/q_auto:eco/4JJ8OAE_AFP__20260624__dpa_pa_260624_99_845784_dpai__v1__HighRes__SmartGlasses_jpg"/></div>
<span><span class="sr-only">Caption:</span>A pair of smart glasses.
(File photo)</span><span class="text-foreground-secondary ml-4"><span class="sr-only">Photo credit:</span>CHRISTOPH SCHMIDT /
AFP</span>
</div>
<div class="ml:grid-cols-8 md:grid md:grid-cols-12 md:gap-16">
<div class="ml:col-start-2 ml:-col-end-2 md:col-start-3 md:-col-end-3">
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
new generation of ultra-cheap smart glasses is exposing
Australians' sensitive data, images and videos to hackers,
an investigation by ABC News has found.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">Independent
testing by cybersecurity experts has revealed a suite of
serious vulnerabilities, and found an attacker can gain
control of the glasses and any stored images using only
Bluetooth.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"Another
person with the same app can log into the glasses without
a password [because] there is no password," said David
Crees, the lead researcher in testing conducted for the
ABC by NSB Cyber and Abstract Shield.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"It
shouldn't be possible. It is not possible in pretty much
every other proper consumer electronic," he said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
ability to hijack a stranger's glasses with Bluetooth
alone was one of more than a dozen flaws he found in six
days of testing the AI-enabled smart glasses, the phone
app, and its website.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"I
would have expected to have found some vulnerabilities …
but in this case, there wasn't a single thing that they
had done correctly," Crees said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="[&_h2]:text-md [&_h3]:text-md [&_h4]:text-md clear-left *:pb-12 *:pt-16">
Key
flaws
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text leading-normal [&_li>ol.list]:!mt-4 [&_li>ol.list]:!pb-0 [&_li>ul.list]:!mt-4 [&_li>ul.list]:!pb-0 [&_li]:!mb-8 [&_ol]:pb-4 [&_ul]:pb-4">
<strong class="font-serif-text-medium"> When
the smart glasses are switched on but the owner is not
connected, an attacker can "race" them to connect
first, with no password or barrier to stop </strong>
<strong class="font-serif-text-medium"> Once
inside, the attacker can control the device to take
new photos and recordings, and copy any photos or
videos that are already stored</strong>
<strong class="font-serif-text-medium"> Audio
and images can be intercepted while they're being
transmitted from the owner's glasses to their phone</strong>
<strong class="font-serif-text-medium"> An
attacker can impersonate glasses they don't own and
use them to connect to the owner's mobile app</strong>
<strong class="font-serif-text-medium"> The
device ID number is visible to others within bluetooth
range while the glasses remain unpaired, and can be
used to look up the user's email address and date of
birth via a separate failure on the app's website</strong>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
findings also horrified legal experts, who said the
security flaws were so serious the product likely breached
the privacy act, Australian consumer law, and the
government's new cyber security act.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"It's
really disturbing to read the extent of the failure to
take even basic steps to protect personal data," said
Kimberlee Weatherall, a tech regulation specialist from
the University of Sydney.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"They
don't seem to have encrypted it, they don't seem to have
put passwords on it, they don't seem to have put even
basic protections on the information that's on the
website.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"It's
a really clear breach [of the privacy act]."</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">There
has been growing public backlash to the recent influx of
cheap smart glasses to Australia, with calls for an import
ban over privacy concerns about their ability to record in
secret.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
devices, which look like ordinary glasses, let the wearer
capture images, video and audio with the press of a
button, and they have attracted the nickname "pervert
glasses" because it is not always clear when they are in
use.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">Now,
revelations about their security flaws raise a parallel
set of privacy concerns for the glasses' owners.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
testing conducted for ABC News assessed two pairs of
glasses - one costing (AU)$60 from the online retailer
Temu, and another costing (AU)$110, bought from a
Sydney-based importer called BDI Technology via Big W
Marketplace.</p>
</div>
<div class="pb-16 pt-8">
<div class="grid justify-center">
<div class="image-ring flex w-full max-w-full -mx-16 md:mx-0 w-screen border-x-0 !max-w-[initial] md:w-[revert-layer] md:!max-w-full [&_img]:w-full [&_img]:md:w-[revert-layer]"><img alt="A package from Temu. (Photo by Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto) (Photo by Nikos Pekiaridis / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP)" width="614" height="384" class="ml:max-h-[50rem] max-w-full aspect-[16/10] object-cover" src="https://media.rnztools.nz/rnz/image/upload/s--YDv8JoOz--/t_kt-crop-16x10/w_614/f_auto/q_auto:eco/4KI6AR4_AFP__20230908__pekiaridis_notitle230908_npLFT__v1__HighRes__TemuMarketplaceStockPhot_jpg"/></div>
<p>Smart glasses could be purchased on online retailer
Temu. (File photo)</p>
<p class="text-foreground-secondary flex-shrink-0 ml-4">Nikos
Pekiaridis / NurPhoto via AFP</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">Similar
versions in a comparable price range have also been
available in recent months from Dick Smith, Kmart, and
Amazon, and all appear to rely on the same mobile phone
app, called HeyCyan.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">Like
many ethical hackers, Crees first honed his skills as a
cyber criminal, but now runs his own company called
Abstract Shield, which is often hired by companies to
detect security flaws before an attacker can.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"I'll
spend anywhere from a week to a month going through a bit
of software or a server or a website and finding
everything that's wrong with it."</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">But
he said it was clear straight away there was "no chance"
these glasses were tested to a basic minimum standard
before they hit Australian shelves.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"If
you think about AirPods or Samsung earbuds, you have to
hold a button on the device for [several] seconds, and
then you can pair it with a new phone," Crees said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"That
protects the device, [but] this has nothing."</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">Weatherall
said the glasses also violated Australia's privacy laws
and were likely to breach several sections of the
yet-to-be-used cyber security act, which came into effect
in March.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"The
rules say that the password must be unique," she said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"It
doesn't even seem like they were applying a password,
which might mean that their standards are so low they
don't even technically breach that rule, which I find
amazing."</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="[&_h2]:text-md [&_h3]:text-md [&_h4]:text-md clear-left *:pb-12 *:pt-16">
Australian
data in, Chinese propaganda out
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">Aside
from the hacking risk, the testing also found Australian
user data was being sent to China in many instances.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">It
revealed anything spoken or typed to the in-built AI
companion, along with any images submitted to AI, was sent
first to a server in Shenzhen.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">Depending
on the function being performed, the data might then be
passed to another Chinese server belonging to a different
company, or to the US, although users are not explicitly
told.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"The
[privacy] act says if it's practical, you have to identify
the country," Weatherall said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"It's
not at all clear to me why they couldn't have put China
into the privacy policy," she said, noting that the
document only made specific mention of Singapore.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
AI companion embedded in the glasses sometimes returned
inaccurate answers or error messages when asked about
topics the Chinese government considers sensitive.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">In
one instance, when asked about China's well-documented
persecution of millions of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang
province, the chatbot said there was "no credible
evidence".</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">It
declined to discuss the Tiananmen Square massacre and
proposed "more positive topics" instead.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">These
findings, along with server locations, led researchers to
conclude the chatbot companion relied at least in part on
Chinese sovereign AI models.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"There
is a high degree of uncertainty when it comes to where the
data is going," Evan Vougdis, from NSB Cyber, who oversaw
the research, said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"Is
it being used for further training [of Chinese AI models]?
Is it being used for surveillance?"</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
testing did not definitively determine how the data was
being used, but Vougdis said any Australians considering
buying the product should be aware of the risk they were
taking.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"We're
looking at data collection at a scale that we've never
seen before due to the adoption of … products such as
smart glasses that are readily available for a low price,"
he said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
developer of the HeyCyan app is Shenzhen Qingcheng Future
Technology Co, based in mainland China.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
ABC made repeated attempts to contact the company about
its security flaws and seek a response, but received no
reply.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">It
appeared HeyCyan's developers had attempted to patch some
security flaws after the ABC shared the findings, but most
vulnerabilities remained unaddressed.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">Crees
said the flaws were so many and substantial that a total
fix was impossible.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"You'd
have to update 300 different brands of glasses and the app
and the website… it'd take like a year to fix this. The
only real solution that I see is a recall," he said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
ABC understands at least one Australian retailer paused
its supply because of the furore surrounding the devices.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">BDI
Technology, which is also listed as the supplier to Dick
Smith and on Big W's Marketplace platform, said it was no
longer selling smart glasses.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"I'm
not surprised," privacy commissioner Carly Kind said.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">"There
has been a really extreme backlash to these technologies.
Many of these companies really prize their reputation in
the Australian community, and I think they [would] do well
to listen to that community concern."</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic">The
ABC did not receive on-the-record responses from any other
retailers.</p>
</div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal"> </div>
<div class="font-serif-text mb-12 leading-normal">
<p class="[&_em]:font-serif-text-italic [&_cite]:font-serif-text-italic"><strong class="font-serif-text-medium"><em class="italic">- ABC</em></strong></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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