Scharon Harding
Our Take: Without going into the many many layers of this story, our takeaway for anyone procuring products or services is to consider the full supply chain when looking at the ethics of a product. What feels like automated magic is often a person behind the curtain, probably in a jurisdiction with fewer safeguards, more often than you might expect.
Your Takeaway: Beauty isn’t skin deep – make sure you do your due diligence and that your happy that your providers ahve appropriate worker protection and safeguards all the way down the chain. And if you’re running human‑review workflows – think through all the consequences. Finally, if you’re using wearable tech which captures images of everyone around you, give real consideration to how you’d feel if a someone with less moral integrity than you were to do the same.
Meta ended its contract with Kenyan firm Sama after workers reported seeing private and explicit videos recorded by Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Sama denies failing to meet standards and says it was not warned about any issues. The situation has raised privacy concerns and led to investigations and a class-action lawsuit against Meta.
Highlights
BBC reported that Sama workers believe Meta ended the contract because workers spoke out about seeing Ray-Ban Meta-shot footage of people performing personal acts, like changing their clothes, having sex, and using the toilet.
A Meta spokesperson told BBC that Meta “decided to end our work with Sama because they don’t meet our standards.” Ars Technica reached out to Meta asking how, specifically, Sama failed to meet Meta’s expectations and will update this article if we hear back. Ars has also reached out to Sama.
In February, numerous workers from a company that Meta contracted to perform data annotation for Ray-Ban Meta reported viewing sensitive, embarrassing, and seemingly private footage recorded by the smart glasses. About two months later, Meta ended its contract with the firm.