Ray-Ban Story, Can They be De-Facebooked?

[gudenau]

So Ray-Ban has these super cool sunglasses with stereo cameras and such called "Ray-Ban Story" and I really want a pair, the Facebook part is a really awful part of them. Does anyone happen to know if you can remove the Facebook component of them?

 

[FAST6191]

That is somewhat outside the usual scope for things done around here, though also I suppose not.

Anyway I am too lazy to look up what they wound facebook into here, but will presume it is all but essential for use with them, or maybe actually essential such that you can't just dump via bluetooth or USB at the end of the day and go with that instead.

I am also not sure where I would go for this. If it was an android based setup then you have that.
Cameras do have hacks quite frequently to modify firmwares, but that is usually more pro level cameras, or at the very least super popular, with abilities nerfed or badly implemented by the original manufacturers.

Spy glasses are a thing but most usually made do with the awfulness of various Chinese manufacturers (if you thought cheapo webcam was bad...). However ripping the guts out of one of those might also be a thing I contemplate in this.

General hardware hackers might take a look but you have been doing this long enough that I imagine you did the token search. If there are firmware updates for them then following those (or tacking on hacked to a search for that) and where they land might be a better option than simple hacked hardware.
If it is tied to an app on a phone/tablet you might find people that don't necessarily play with hardware and instead are more into phone app fiddling step in and do something. Whether you have the option to do something at the device level (block facebook servers at DNS/host file or something level) I don't know but don't discount it. If you are inclined to have facebook then you might also work around it that way by associating the device with a dummy company/group/whatever page (naturally set as private as you like/can) that never touches your main profile and you can fish it back out of that, or delete contents of that page.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

These are laughable to be considered "Smart Glasses" as they are basically a Bluetooth headset with a camera built in. No built in screen or proper OS. Even the Google Glass I had back in 2014 can run circles around this thing, which is sad to think about now.

If it is tied to an app on a phone/tablet you might find people that don't necessarily play with hardware and instead are more into phone app fiddling step in and do something. Whether you have the option to do something at the device level (block facebook servers at DNS/host file or something level) I don't know but don't discount it. If you are inclined to have facebook then you might also work around it that way by associating the device with a dummy company/group/whatever page (naturally set as private as you like/can) that never touches your main profile and you can fish it back out of that, or delete contents of that page.

Basically its controlled via a facebook app called "facebook view" That is where most of the functions are piggybacked from. Its similar to a lot of smart wear devices but this is just built around being used with facebook. In theory if the app can be pulled apart or even if the communication between the devices can be intercepted (especially if its Bluetooth) an app can be hacked/built that can act as the means to use the glasses without the facebook bloat integrated.

That said you are right in that blocking communication from FB servers can also work if you have the right apps/security policy on your phone. Ultimately I just do not see the point in investing in something like this unless you are an active FB/Instagram user. It really offers nothing special compared to the many other options that exist out there that can do similar or even better without the need of FB integration. This is not an Oculus where there is usefulness in stripping away facebook is a good move for the investment given that the next step up from that hardware is several hundreds of dollars more. Look for other smart wear devices on the market and if nothing appeals to you now wait a little longer as the landscape for this tech is growing year by year.

 

[gudenau]

These are laughable to be considered "Smart Glasses" as they are basically a Bluetooth headset with a camera built in. No built in screen or proper OS. Even the Google Glass I had back in 2014 can run circles around this thing, which is sad to think about now.



Basically its controlled via a facebook app called "facebook view" That is where most of the functions are piggybacked from. Its similar to a lot of smart wear devices but this is just built around being used with facebook. In theory if the app can be pulled apart or even if the communication between the devices can be intercepted (especially if its Bluetooth) an app can be hacked/built that can act as the means to use the glasses without the facebook bloat integrated.

That said you are right in that blocking communication from FB servers can also work if you have the right apps/security policy on your phone. Ultimately I just do not see the point in investing in something like this unless you are an active FB/Instagram user. It really offers nothing special compared to the many other options that exist out there that can do similar or even better without the need of FB integration. This is not an Oculus where there is usefulness in stripping away facebook is a good move for the investment given that the next step up from that hardware is several hundreds of dollars more. Look for other smart wear devices on the market and if nothing appeals to you now wait a little longer as the landscape for this tech is growing year by year.

@FAST6191 (Just to avoid the two large quotes)

From what I can tell it is all done by the application and these are relatively new, I tried searching for ways to remove the Facebook integration but all of the results where for Facebook being bad in general. I don't use the service at all.

The main reason I want these is for the cameras and maybe the audio playback capabilities. The stereo picture and video capture capabilities of these are very interesting to me. I currently have a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses that are really nice. This is one of those products where I would want to know for a fact that I can remove the spyware from it before I get it. Even if I only take pictures of boring things like architecture and landscapes, I don't want Facebook to have those pictures because they have a long history of abusing such information.

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On a related note, I can't tell if there is a port on these things. So anything that is done to them without disassembly would likely require abusing the BT stack or update mechanisms. Both of which Facebook has the resources to do right.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

@FAST6191 (Just to avoid the two large quotes)

From what I can tell it is all done by the application and these are relatively new, I tried searching for ways to remove the Facebook integration but all of the results where for Facebook being bad in general. I don't use the service at all.

The main reason I want these is for the cameras and maybe the audio playback capabilities. The stereo picture and video capture capabilities of these are very interesting to me. I currently have a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses that are really nice. This is one of those products where I would want to know for a fact that I can remove the spyware from it before I get it. Even if I only take pictures of boring things like architecture and landscapes, I don't want Facebook to have those pictures because they have a long history of abusing such information.

If that is the case your best bet is to probably wait it out for awhile until someone has the time to tackle the problem and do something on the application end of things. It shouldn't be impossible to make a hacked version of the Facebook View app that breaks the Facebook stuff from working, it just depends on how integrated it all is with their systems/servers. The other thing is as what we already mentioned before is blocking communication with FB entirely using an app or security policy.

These are pretty new and not in enough peoples hands yet. Give it time until someone has come with a proper solution, I will say in a month or two we will probably hear something come from it.

 

[gudenau]

If that is the case your best bet is to probably wait it out for awhile until someone has the time to tackle the problem and do something on the application end of things. It shouldn't be impossible to make a hacked version of the Facebook View app that breaks the Facebook stuff from working, it just depends on how integrated it all is with their systems/servers. The other thing is as what we already mentioned before is blocking communication with FB entirely using an app or security policy.

These are pretty new and not in enough peoples hands yet. Give it time until someone has come with a proper solution, I will say in a month or two we will probably hear something come from it.

I just feel like it is going to be one of those things that has:

• Safety net
• Pinned certificates
• Always online (I.E. just `facebook.com 0.0.0.0` in hosts won't work)
  
• Invasive permissions

Just because they know people will want to remove the Facebook part of these and those are not super hard things to do.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

I just feel like it is going to be one of those things that has:

• Safety net
• Pinned certificates
• Always online (I.E. just `facebook.com 0.0.0.0` in hosts won't work)
  
• Invasive permissions

Just because they know people will want to remove the Facebook part of these and those are not super hard things to do.

While some truth can be had with that, its something that remains to be seen in the current market. Let's be honest here though, how many people buying these are interested in actually removing the FB feature? Very few if any would, especially in this market. Again compared to their VR market which they are the cheaper option compared to the HTC Vive, VR people did not want FB integration and found ways around it, plus these folk were pretty smart in the tech space to do such things. Most average consumers of these glasses are buying them with the intent of using them with FB, which will make you a very niche outlier that they will not worry about putting any kind of extra hurdles in preventing removal of their systems with.

At the end of the day, to them you are too niche to worry about, if a workaround is found it will only appeal to a small fraction of users. As long as its not a security issue, they will probably not care.

 

[gudenau]

While some truth can be had with that, its something that remains to be seen in the current market. Let's be honest here though, how many people buying these are interested in actually removing the FB feature? Very few if any would, especially in this market. Again compared to their VR market which they are the cheaper option compared to the HTC Vive, VR people did not want FB integration and found ways around it, plus these folk were pretty smart in the tech space to do such things. Most average consumers of these glasses are buying them with the intent of using them with FB, which will make you a very niche outlier that they will not worry about putting any kind of extra hurdles in preventing removal of their systems with.

At the end of the day, to them you are too niche to worry about, if a workaround is found it will only appeal to a small fraction of users. As long as its not a security issue, they will probably not care.

At very least none of that stops reverse engineering the application.