'Privacy visor blocks facial recognition software'

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

22 January 2013 Last updated at 12:50 GMT

'Privacy visor blocks facial recognition software'

A pair of glasses dubbed a "privacy visor" has been developed to thwart hidden cameras using facial-recognition software.

The prototype spectacles have been designed by scientists at Tokyo's National Institute of Informatics.

The glasses are equipped with a near-infrared light source, which confuses the software without affecting vision.

Law enforcers, shops and social networks are increasingly using facial-recognition software.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21143017

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. K&R. Thanks for posting about this interesting innovation. n/t

[MineralMan]

2. Officer Harry: 'There's another pair of those glasses.'

"Go check that guy out. See what he's up to."

There's the response to such a thing.

[HappyMe]

3. lol!

Another toy for the extreme prepper people.
Doesn't that kind of point out people who may have something to hide or done something wrong?

[leftyohiolib]

4. how fast will legislation go thru to ban these?

[JackRiddler]

15. If that happens, it needs not to be a voice vote!

[Dash87]

6. I want to freak people out by wearing those at night with the LED lights on.

Then I would say hello to them and give them the Spock greeting (you know, the one where you split your fingers).

[caraher]

12. I don't think it looks like the photos to the naked eye

The LEDs emit in the infrared, which (pretty much by definition!) your eyes don't see. You do see them in the photo because the digital camera (like as the cameras used in facial recognition that this invention is trying to defeat) is sensitive to near-infrared light.

But you could always swap their LEDs with your own, that do emit visible light!

[bvar22]

7. What???

These don't work?

[Speck Tater]

14. LOL. You beat me to it! Add plastic buck teeth and it would be foolproof. nt

[bvar22]

16. Foolproof......

AND much, MUCH cooler than those stupid glasses in the OP.

I see a wonderful day in the future when ALL of America walks down Main Street
wearing Groucho Glasses,
and giving the finger to every Big Brother camera.
We will be a much happier, well-adjusted brotherhood of citizens if we ever reach that point.


But not so fast....
The tech industries designing and marketing Facial Recognition technology to the government and "private" customers claim that their products can't be fooled this way.

That claim sounds like bullshit to me,
designed to fool people into fearful submission.
Nothing can identify someone with a complete hood over their faces,
so there MUST be a point where the above types of disguises can foil ANY Facial Recognition devices.

Now, when we get to the point where Big Brother can ID us by sniffing our pheromones or mapping our DNA through Stand Off technology,
we will be in trouble.

[Speck Tater]

17. I fread a science fiction novel recently

where everyone wore facial disguise hood to protect their identity. I don't recall which one it was. (By "recently" I mean in the last year or two.)

[Comrade_McKenzie]

8. Ladies and gentlemen... the new tinfoil hat. nt

[HappyMe]

9. Reminds me a bit of

Steve Martin's invention in The Jerk.

[Blue_Tires]

10. I once knew a university prof who got a huge DHS grant to refine facial recognition tech

I don't know how much it has advanced in the past few years, but when I last saw him, the technology was completely useless against minor stuff like beards, low baseball caps, etc...

[caraher]

13. The article lists several low/no tech alternatives

Heavy make-up or a mask will also work, as will tilting your head at a 15-degree angle, which fools the software into thinking you do not have a face, according to an online guide produced by hacktivist group Anonymous.

[Ikonoklast]

11. Waste of money. I just wear one of these everywhere I go.

The tellers at my bank are used to it now, they haven't hit the alarm the last few times I was there.