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Hackers Rebel Against Spy Cams

Posted by Zonk on from the damn-the-man dept.

Wired is running an article looking at the little ways in which Austrian technology users are striking back against surveillance. From the article: "Members of the organization worked out a way to intercept the camera images with an inexpensive, 1-GHz satellite receiver. The signal could then be descrambled using hardware designed to enhance copy-protected video as it's transferred from DVD to VHS tape. The Quintessenz activists then began figuring out how to blind the cameras with balloons, lasers and infrared devices. And, just for fun, the group created an anonymous surveillance system that uses face-recognition software to place a black stripe over the eyes of people whose images are recorded."

8 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. Veils by quokkapox · · Score: 4, Funny
    Maybe we should all just adopt a more modest dress code. We could obscure our faces with veils that only reveal our eyes.

    Then only those who wear veils will be criminals.

    --
    it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
    1. Re:Veils by Spock+the+Baptist · · Score: 3, Funny

      That sounds like a veiled threat...

      --
      "Oh drat these computers, they're so naughty and so complex, I could pinch them." --Marvin the Martian
  2. Turn the tables by Alcimedes · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think the only thing that MIGHT actually get the laws changed would be as one person suggested in the article. Turn the tables on those passing the laws. Find key political figures and start saving all the video footage of where they go. I'm sure with tens of hours of video footable between dozens of people you're bound to come across a wide variety of embarassing moments.

    Put those up on the web and away you go. Might actually get something changed then.

  3. Re:Black stripe by chengmi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now if you REALLY don't want to be recognized, then you could/should fill in the whole head with a bright yellow smiley face!

  4. Then only those who wear veils will be criminals. by mrchaotica · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you don't think that's already the case, try walking into a bank wearing a ski mask.

    --

    "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

  5. Re:Black stripe by hhghghghh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now if you REALLY don't want to be recognized, then you could/should fill in the whole head with a bright yellow smiley face!

    Surely you mean a blue, cap-wearing smiley with text rotating around it?

  6. Re:RTFA? by ms1234 · · Score: 3, Funny

    You must be new here ..

  7. Re:modesty by geminidomino · · Score: 3, Funny

    Argh... flashback of my Senior year in high school...

    What the bloody hell was I thinking?