AustraliaThe Age

Kmart’s $89 camera glasses removed from sale online amid privacy backlash

Kmart has quietly pulled its $89 camera glasses from its website after a privacy backlash, and Australia's privacy watchdog has launched a formal investigation into the Chinese company behind the app.

The cut-price Anko glasses sold out within a week. Now they’re gone, and the privacy watchdog is investigating the company behind their app.

Quick Sip: If you bought the Anko smart glasses, the privacy commissioner says the Chinese company behind the HeyCyan app has not responded to inquiries about how it handles Australians' personal data.
Full story at The Age

What readers are saying

trev1986
The key detail here is that Shenzhen Qingcheng didn't respond to the privacy commissioner's preliminary inquiries at all. That's a major red flag - it means the OAIC had to escalate to a formal investigation with compulsory powers. If a company won't even answer basic questions about how they're handling Australian data, that tells you everything about their approach to user protection.
raj_rhodes
Given Meta's glasses have a white light that flashes during recording, why hasn't the privacy commissioner mentioned whether the HeyCyan app has similar safeguards? 🔍
Vernao
Fifty-seven thousand people had to sign a petition to get Kmart to pull them. That's the real story here.
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