Anti-Surveillance Clothing Thwarts Facial Recognition

The use of facial recognition software for commercial purposes is becoming more common, but, as Amazon scans faces in its physical shop and Facebook searches photos of users to add tags to, those concerned about their privacy are fighting back.

Berlin-based artist and technologist Adam Harvey aims to overwhelm and confuse these systems by presenting them with thousands of false hits so they can’t tell which faces are real.

The Hyperface project involves printing patterns on to clothing or textiles, which then appear to have eyes, mouths and other features that a computer can interpret as a face.

This is not the first time Harvey has tried to confuse facial recognition software. During a previous project, CV Dazzle, he attempted to create an aesthetic of makeup and hairstyling that would cause machines to be unable to detect a face.

Speaking at the Chaos Communications Congress hacking conference in Hamburg, Harvey said: “As I’ve looked at in an earlier project, you can change the way you appear, but, in camouflage you can think of the figure and the ground relationship. There’s also an opportunity to modify the ‘ground’, the things that appear next to you, around you, and that can also modify the computer vision confidence score.”

Harvey’s Hyperface project aims to do just that, he says, “overloading an algorithm with what it wants, oversaturating an area with faces to divert the gaze of the computer vision algorithm.”

The resultant patterns, which Harvey created in conjunction with international interaction studio Hyphen-Labs, can be worn or used to blanket an area. “It can be used to modify the environment around you, whether it’s someone next to you, whether you’re wearing it, maybe around your head or in a new way.”

Explaining his hopes for how technologies like his would affect the world, Harvey showed an image of a street scene from the 1910s, pointing out that every figure in it is wearing a hat. “In 100 years from now, we’re going to have a similar transformation of fashion and the way that we appear. What will that look like? Hopefully it will look like something that appears to optimise our personal privacy.”

To emphasize the extent to which facial recognition technology changes expectations of privacy, Harvey collated 47 different data points commercial and academic researchers claim to be able to discover from a 100x100 pixel facial image, around 2.5% of the size of a typical Instagram photo. Those include traits such as “calm” or “kind”, criminal tendencies like “pedophiles” or “white collar offender”, and simple demographics like “age” and “gender”.

Research from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, for instance, claims to be able to predict criminality from lip curvature, eye inner corner distance and the so-called nose-mouth angle.

“A lot of other researchers are looking at how to take that very small data and turn it into insights that can be used for marketing,” Harvey said. “What all this reminds me of is Francis Galton and eugenics. The real criminal, in these cases, are people who are perpetrating this idea, not the people who are being looked at.”

Guardian:        Facial Recognition Prevents Terrorist Attacks:      

Facial Recognition Might Stop the Next Brussels:       


 

« Changing Other People's Flight Bookings Is Just Too Easy
Watson For Cybersecurity »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Practice Labs

Practice Labs

Practice Labs is an IT competency hub, where live-lab environments give access to real equipment for hands-on practice of essential cybersecurity skills.

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

ON-DEMAND WEBINAR: Future-proof your security with Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

ON-DEMAND WEBINAR: Future-proof your security with Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

Watch this webinar to explore the Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) paradigm, its relationship with organization IT practices, and its role in your security strategy.

Authentic8

Authentic8

Authentic8 transforms how organizations secure and control the use of the web with Silo, its patented cloud browser.

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

Acumin

Acumin

Acumin is an internationally established Cyber Security recruitment specialist.

Ministry of Defence Georgia - Cyber Security Bureau

Ministry of Defence Georgia - Cyber Security Bureau

The aim of the Cyber Security Bureau is to establish and develop stable, effective and secure Information and Communication Technology systems for the Civil Office of MoD of Georgia.

Secnology

Secnology

Secnology is dedicated to developing and providing the most powerful and user friendly event analysis and security management solution.

Secure-ly

Secure-ly

Securely Ltd. is an IT consulting and services firm specializing in PKI solutions and products.

Shape Security

Shape Security

Shape Security provide best-in-class defense against malicious automated cyberattacks on web and mobile applications.

Database Cyber Security Guard

Database Cyber Security Guard

Database Cyber Security Guard prevents confidential database data theft by Hackers, Rogue Insiders, 3rd Party Cyber Risks, Phishing Email Attacks, Dev Ops Exploits and SQL Injection Attacks.

MedCrypt

MedCrypt

MedCrypt are a team of medical device experts focused on bringing modern cybersecurity features to the next generation of healthcare technology.

CRI4DATA

CRI4DATA

CRI4DATA's mission is to help organizations build their resilience to cyber risk.

Gospel Technology

Gospel Technology

Gospel presents a totally new way of accessing and controlling data which is enterprise grade scalable, highly resilient, and secure.

CertiK

CertiK

CertiK uses rigorous Formal Verification technology to provide hacker-resistant smart contract and blockchain audits, thorough penetration testing, and customized security integrations.

GlobalPass

GlobalPass

Covering 200+ countries with 78 000 databases, GlobalPass provides sophisticated facial biometrics verification and deep screening, delivering peace of mind to every client.

Randstad

Randstad

Randstad provide outsourcing, staffing, consulting and workforce solutions in the USA across a wide range of job sectors including IT and cybersecurity.

AppOmni

AppOmni

AppOmni is the only SaaS CSPM solution that gives teams all the tools they need to be successful – from security posture management to monitoring and detection to continuous compliance.

ThreatModeler

ThreatModeler

ThreatModeler is an automated threat modeling solution that fortifies an enterprise’s Software Development Lifecycle by identifying, predicting and defining threats.

i-Trace

i-Trace

i-Trace is securing IoT, protecting it from threats and building trust in the infrastructure of tomorrow using blockchain and artificial intelligence.

Secure Diversity

Secure Diversity

Secure Diversity is an innovative non-profit organization with leaders that think out of the box to create strategies & solutions to increase diversity in the cybersecurity industry.