As you point out, the data collection that enables this privacy abomination is the larger problem...

...but not by much. The difference here is that spying with glasses is passive, whereas spying with other devices requires the spy to take some kind of action.

If some stranger wants to identify me using their smart phone, or other portable camera, they need (1) to care enough about me to bother (2) to physically hold up their device (which draws attention, and is socially unacceptable).

But smart glasses, CCTV, and other passive spy devices are much worse: the subjects being spied upon can be spied upon en masse, and get fewer opportunities even to notice they are on camera.