DuckDuckGo's Camera-Free Glasses Sell Out Mocking Meta's Surveillance Specs 😎

DuckDuckGo has sold out of its debut eyewear product, the "Normal F***ing Sunglasses," less than a week after launch, with the company now accepting pre-orders for a second production run. The $35 sunglasses, co-developed with San Diego eyewear brand Knockaround and released July 30, are built on Knockaround's Paso Robles matte black frame with a blackout finish. They feature polarized lenses with UV400 protection, FDA-compliant impact resistance and a debossed hard case. The product listing states plainly that the glasses contain "no camera, no microphone, no AI, no battery, no electronics of any kind," while promoting an "infinite charge life," "seamless offline mode," "zero notifications guaranteed" and "0% surveillance risk."

A DuckDuckGo spokesperson told TechSpot that a significant share of inventory had been purchased but said it was too early to release complete sales figures. The product page now confirms the first run sold out and is accepting pre-orders for the next batch. In a launch-day tweet, DuckDuckGo featured tech journalist Tatum Hunter, who commented that "examples of people using smart glasses in unethical and frightening ways keep piling up," referencing harassment, inappropriate recordings and broader privacy concerns. DuckDuckGo's accompanying post argued that "camera-enabled glasses deserve serious pushback" and that "hands-free recording isn't worth the risks to our safety."

The launch positions the privacy-focused company directly against Meta and Google's camera-equipped smart glasses. Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses have drawn criticism online, with critics increasingly dismissing them as "pervert glasses." A BBC investigation in January reported that women had been covertly filmed and the clips posted to TikTok. In February, Swedish reporting found contractors training Meta's AI had reviewed footage of people undressing and using bathrooms. A class action lawsuit followed in March, the ACLU and 75 other groups declared adding facial recognition to the devices "a red line society must not cross" in April, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into the technology in May. DEF CON and Comic Con organizer Monopoly Events have both banned the devices from their venues.

DuckDuckGo has spent the past year differentiating itself from AI-default competitors. After polling its users on whether they wanted generative AI results folded into search, roughly nine in ten said no, and the company moved AI features to a separate opt-in page. Traffic to its no-AI search page tripled after Google's AI Overviews rollout. The sunglasses extend that positioning into physical hardware, turning the absence of cameras, microphones and AI into a marketable feature rather than a specification gap.