Defeating Facial Recognition Surveillance

[rhodesbe]

I write articles for a living, for a physical security news site. Given others on here do the same type of thing, and still others have a 'conspiracy theorist' bend, I thought you might enjoy this 'freebie' from our site:

Defeating Facial Recognition in Five Easy Steps?
by Brian Rhodes, Posted on Aug 24, 2012



Few topics fan the flames of privacy activists like video surveillance. Depending on who you are, video cameras either dramatically improve security or are the ultimate end of it. In response to the recent Wikileaks Trapwire leak, someone claiming to be part of the uber-hacker collective 'Anonymous' produced a video offering tips on "how-to fool facial recognition cameras", which is embedded below:




Here's a quick recap of the clips's recommendations, followed up up by our feedback:

1. Wear a Mask: The pro to this approach is its drop dead effectiveness in stopping facial recognition. Even the best, most advanced analytic is not going to make out your identity when it's obscured by a mask. The con to this approach is that wearing masks in public tends to draw suspicion on their own merit. Unless, of course, you've taken to wearing a 'facekini' to protect your complexion. However, if you fall into this group, being recognized on camera might not be the worst thing that could happen anyway.
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2. Tilt your Head 15 degrees While You Walk: Again, the pro to this approach is that it is fairly effective. It's even natural. It doesn't take extreme cambering of your head into a zombie posture to 'fool' facial recognition. In fact, simply tilting your head downward as if looking at you watch or the street in front of you is still a major problem for face rec (and the associated cameras) to overcome. There's no real 'con' to this method, beyond the realization at some point that a technology so easily fooled by jogging your head may not be capable of the omnipotent evil it is credited with.

3. Wear Strange Makeup: Pros- this probably works just fine to hide your identity, if done right. Cons- if done right, you will have a hard time pulling it off every day - unless your adoring public expects nothing less.
View attachment lady-gaga-makeup-closeup-2.jpg

4. Use Lasers to Disable Cameras: This method has a big upside for defeating analytics. In fact, it defeats the entire camera at the same time. However, the downside is that it requires an insane amount of luck (skill?) and a fair amount of equipment and time to properly align and execute. Not to mention the target camera has ample time to record you setting up your laser pointer beforehand.

5. Make an LED Hat: If the Facekini or makeup aren't your style, the video suggests you can always make an IR LED-laced hat. The net effect of wearing such a hat creates a glare of UV that obscures your face from any IR enabled camera. The downside: you are stuck waiting until dark to "stick it to the man" with your nifty, home-brewed device.
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With all due respect to those concerned with privacy and the illegal use of surveillance, we offer 'Better Recommendations':

1. Wear a Ballcap or Sunglasses: Frankly, it doesn't matter if they contain LEDs, Lasers, or Kryptonite. Facial Analytics simply aren't powerful enough to ignore basic changes to appearance and still work. Too much respect is given the ability of facial recognition analytics, especially given they simply do not work well enough to overcome the simple, everyday fluctuations in personal appearance.

2. Do Not Do Anything at All: Most cameras are mounted too high/weird angles, and lack the image resolutions to detect faces anyway. As we've already noted, recognizing faces is hard even in ideal situations - with correct pixel count, proper camera mounting height, and when subjects look squarely at the cameras. The chances that old, dusty dome hung 20 feet up is going to make your face correctly is fairly absurd.

3. Don't Believe Everything You Read: While it makes for exciting reading and racks up page views, TrapWire's abilities have been grossly over exaggerated. The premise that a massive, interconnected, fully cooperational network of surveillance cameras is being used to track movements is science fiction fodder. While it is a compelling idea for some, and the manifestation of evil for others, simply because an idea is 'theoretically possible' does not mean it is plausible or impending.

 

[10Seconds]

Its good to be thinking about it though, technology improves everyday. It wont be long.

They do have cameras specifically made for facial recognition that do quite a bit better than the average security camera out there.

 

[bee-r549]

Good to know.

 

[Doesn'tPlayWellw/Others]

Win big at at a Vegas casino, Then walk in 4 months later. I know I'm a memorable good looking man. But come on, four months later. They remember me?


I'm not worried though,I am actually intrigued,,, If ran by men, it will eventually end up as a database just full of "Best Racks and Asses".

 

[rhodesbe]

Win big at at a Vegas casino, Then walk in 4 months later. I know I'm a memorable good looking man. But come on, four months later. They remember me?


I'm not worried though,I am actually intrigued,,, If ran by men, it will eventually end up as a database just full of "Best Racks and Asses".

You actually bring up a major distinction for this type of software.

The casino immediately recognized you because of a variety of factors. They knew you were coming, from your airline manifest data. They even (collectively) knew which property you were staying at, and which ones you had already played. The casinos share that data.

They also had at least three human beings check your identity as you entered the casino you are talking about. Human beings recognized you, not computer software.

Facial recognition software is a poor substitute for good, old-fashioned manpower. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) Vegas is one of the only locales on earth that can justify staffing those huge operations.

 

[buckeye]

...make an IR LED-laced hat. The net effect of wearing such a hat creates a glare of UV that obscures your face from any IR enabled camera.

Just radiate outside the visible spectrum and you'll be fine. You're fine.