This week, 404 Media reported that University of Washington researchers planned to have preschool teachers wear body cameras to record children for AI model training. Parents received a permission form. The program was opt-out, not opt-in. The consent architecture raised immediate flags. But the deeper is that it was approved.

A few months ago I ended a consulting gig on my terms. I had built a brand strategy from scratch, a business development framework, nearly 20 years of experience poured into work that was meant to last. Then I was told: "AI said to do marketing this way." That was the whole argument. And it pointed at something much bigger than one bad meeting.

When my roofer walked through my front door wearing Meta smart glasses that were actively recording, I didn't know how to respond. I wish I had. That moment opened up a much larger question: who is protecting bystanders from a technology that records first and asks permission never? From Meta's shifting data policies to the complete absence of federal privacy law in the United States, the ethical and regulatory gaps around smart glasses are wider than most people realize.