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Hacking Big Brother With Help From Revlon
skids writes "All those futuristic full-face eyeliner jobs in dystopian cyberpunk fiction might not be that far off the mark. A New York University student spent his thesis time exploring computer vision technology (OpenCV) for ways in which one could confound first-stage algorithms that initially lock onto faces. Then he mixed in a bit of fashion sense to predict future geek chic. Now, whether you want to go for the coal-miner look just to stay out of the data mine, that's up to you."
Harvey's research involves the reverse engineering of OpenCV, which its creators describe as an open-source "library of programming functions for real-time computer vision."
Oh the reg whatever shall we do with you...
The point is, there's an endless variation of disguises you can use to thwart the software as long as certain programed traits it looks for (darkness above eyes/lighter nose and cheekbones/symmetry) are thrown off by face markings and hairstyles. I think this would be cooler with glowing phosphorescent paint, but I think the point is to blend in so the software doesnt look too closely at you.
one step closer to living in the world of Hackers. Just gotta find my old roller blades now...
Balderdash!
Kratos laughs at your facial recognition software.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
There's no hacking involved, and the word hacking wasn't even necessary for sensationalism's sake. Seriously, I know people write misleading headlines to get eyeballs, but a perfectly accurate title could have been just as enticing: how about "Evading Big Brother with Help from Revlon?" Isn't evading about as interesting as hacking, Big Brother-wise?
Even when they could be honest, accurate, and interesting the Slashdot editors simply don't bother. Why?
Seems to me an aeasthetic patch covering one eye could work just as well - if not better. Plus it's relativelly less conspicuous (especially for a man)...and you might always need some medical procedure requiring later covering of one eye, right?
PS. Harrrr!
One that hath name thou can not otter
Whatever happened to just wearing a ski mask when committing a "crime"? I'm not sure I'd feel less silly painting my face than simply putting on a mask.
Whats the point of bypassing facial recognition if you've still been recorded in a manner that could identify you? It would help abate real-time face-triggered alerts, but not much else.
If people start doing this, I predict it would only be a matter of time before the police would categorize anyone with a painted face as a possible terrorist threat, such as how the ski mask is considered now.
I wonder how common nIR graffiti is? It would be visible in 'night vision' CCTV cameras, and often to regular CCD and CMOS cameras with poor filters, but invisible to the naked eye.
In fact, it's incredibly easy to swap the nIR blocking filter in a cheap camera for an IR-pass/optically opaque filter. Leaving invisible notes for people could be pretty fun.
He 'discovered' basic camoflage:
Diagonal lines confuses facial recognision in humans too.
Anyone that has been in the Military/Police could have told him that.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!