Social media app Snapchat is preparing to roll out a pair of "surveillance specs" which can take pictures using a tiny camera.

The glasses can record 10 seconds of video and are operated by tapping a button on the device.

1 The Snapchat spectacles have sparked privacy and surveillance fears

Video is then automatically uploaded to the ‘Memories’ section of the popular app via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

The devices have already sparked surveillance and privacy fears among social media user.

Tremecca D. Doss, an American attorney, wrote: "Very interested to see if new privacy and surveillance issues in the workplace and at schools arise from Snapchat Spectacles."

"When we're under 24/7 inescapable surveillance, we will have done it to ourselves," wrote another Twitter user.

Young people living today are the most surveilled generation in human history and it's necessarily the government or spooks that are doing the snooping.

Snapchat Spectacles, surveillance on your face! — Maani Yousofi (@maaniyousofi) September 26, 2016

Snapchat has now gone full circle. From a private and ephemeral space for teens to a full blown surveillance state. 😎 — Sean Percival (@Percival) September 24, 2016

.@naval Snapchat did full circle from complete privacy w/ self destroing messages to complete surveillance w/out prior concent w/ Spectacles — Michael Babich (@MichaelBabich) September 25, 2016

Edward Snowden famously revealed the scary reach of the US and UK's surveillance state, but youngsters' privacy is actually threatened more by other children more than it is by shadowy spy agencies.

Snapchat and Instagram have already helped to create a society where every single moment is documented and shared online.

But the release of the new glasses could be a concerning escalation of the apparently voluntary youth-led surveillance society, because they allow photos and videos to be snapped even more subtly.

Experts have said "the knowledge, or even the perception, of being surveilled can have a chilling effect", making people less likely to express themselves freely or act in ways which are not considered normal by mainstream society.

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The glasses are the first hardware from the Los Angeles-based company. The company says it’s changing its name to Snap.inc since it now has more than one product.

The glasses record so-called “circular video,” meaning it plays full-screen on any device in any orientation. They record footage for up to 30 seconds at a time and a ring of LED lights flashes to show the device is recording.

They will be available in the U.S. in the autumn on a limited basis and cost $130.