Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

'Faceless Recognition System' Can Identify You Even When You Hide Your Face (vice.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the Guy-Fawkes-mask dept.

schwit1 quotes a report from Motherboard: By itself, the ability to instantly identify anyone just by seeing their face already creates massive power imbalances, with serious implications for free speech and political protest. But more recently, researchers have demonstrated that even when faces are blurred or otherwise obscured, algorithms can be trained to identify people by matching previously-observed patterns around their head and body. In a new paper uploaded to the ArXiv pre-print server, researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Saarbrucken, Germany demonstrate a method of identifying individuals even when most of their photos are un-tagged or obscured. The researchers' system, which they call the "Faceless Recognition System," trains a neural network on a set of photos containing both obscured and visible faces, then uses that knowledge to predict the identity of obscured faces by looking for similarities in the area around a person's head and body. As for the accuracy of the system, "even when there are only 1.25 instances of the individual's fully-visible face, the system can identify an obscured face with 69.6 percent accuracy; if there are 10 instances of an individual's face, it increases to as high as 91.5 percent."

28 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. who is that by zlives · · Score: 4, Funny

    who is that masked man!!!

    if only we had the this tech available in all the superhero movies...

  2. 69.6 by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    the new number of the beast

  3. Ha Ha! by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    They'll never identify me!

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  4. Re:And... by zlives · · Score: 1

    yup correctly identified as the faceless man.

  5. Intrepid by jargonburn · · Score: 1

    I applaud their efforts, even though I'm a little horrified at the lengths to which we'll go in our quest to remove anonymity.
    While I'm sure there are good uses this can be put to, I wonder if any of the researchers questioned whether this was really a good idea...

    Now, if this system was capable of identifying the person responsible for {insert bad corporate act(s)} through the corporate veil well enough for them to be meaningfully punished, that would be incredible!

    1. Re:Intrepid by zlives · · Score: 1

      this product is probably not veil proof. corporate or otherwise.

  6. Pool size and scale? by phorm · · Score: 2

    I wonder how this works with a large pool size.
    Sure, it might be able to spot "Bob Smith" in a crowd if the only data it has is several shots for "Bob Smith" and maybe 10 others. How about when it has to store data on a few thousand or million people. I think at some point accuracy goes out the window as it mistakes "Bob Smith" for any of the other million or so users it has data on.

  7. Afterwwards to be known as ... by oheso · · Score: 1

    the kaonashi recognition system.

  8. Maybe not ... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    These are all pictures where the person was not trying to modify their appearance to be able to hide in plain sight. Temporary collagen injections (or even just some padding inside your cheeks), using tape (hidden under a wig) to raise the eyebrow arch vertically, or stretch the eyelids horizontally, some padding to give yourself dumbo ears, use of makeup to alter the appearance of facial bone structure via shading and highlighting, making the nose narrower using dabs of crazy glue to stick parts of the nasal septum together ...

    Enough differences, and the identification will fail.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:Maybe not ... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The next big contractor sell is to offer to generate 3D representations from any 2D face image.
      Facial expressions, poses and lighting become less of an issue. Turning away or looking up/down will not prevent the cheaper, newer 3d systems from getting a more correct match at around 10 million matches per second.
      Thats great for any building security and anyone detected outside with a camera.
      The next step is to build in tracking for any new face that should have worked, e.g. face on, good lighting. Why is this still an unknown person in real time when the face/stats does not match the CCTV live image?
      Re the 'identification will fail" could soon be the new start of a random chat down. If everyone else gets a good fit to a database, why is that person not passing on a real time match factoring in height or other detected or listed stats.
      With more and more nations collecting images at all entry and exit points for all people entering a nation and having a real time database of their own citizens via everyday state, federal photo ID applications, finding the difficult to ID is then just a random chat down a walk or drive away.
      Security can then just walk out, get a face on image. If that still does not match "any" state or federal database in near real time, parallel construction can then be used to get more ID to get around most stop and identify statutes.
      Conversations with terms like may we see, could, can, paper work will need an ID like questions asked in a loud way over time by a few different officials with the hint of further investigations can often clear up any issues with CCTV captured images on public land.
      A fast chat down on public land can often induce photo ID to be produced for any reason. If the majority of people passing a location are detected to a good standard, site security or police can then question any one who did not get a good database fit. A few people every hour for some reason and it looks totally random and very legal :)
      i.e. any alternations will have to match a real person that can pass human and CCTV observation. The next federal trick will be location, time tracking, why is the same person able to be listed on CCTV in two different states or time zones at almost the same time :)
      A quick review by a human will show an expected issue or something that needs further investigation.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:Maybe not ... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      In a system where everyone is supposed to match someone, all a disguise will do is cause the system to present the closest match, even if it's wrong. No problem.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:Maybe not ... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The face alterations will only pass until systems catch up with height, gait or can search deeper into other live databases.
      Eg the person is logged at work in another state as their gov, mil, federal, state ID shows, should not be walking around in another state at that time. Been detected driving a car into or out of another city, walking around in another city in the past half an hour...
      Been passed as a very random person far away will not be much use as the shared location tracking gets better.
      Been seen near a protest, federal site, sensitive site, protected site, just been in a city... will often allow security staff or law enforcemnt to take their own images, follow a person back to their car to capture the front or back plates or induce a conversation looking for such things as wigs or padding.
      Better real time national sharing of data will stop a lot of shared ID's, the overstaying visa issue, not having any real documents, having been given very limited state ID.
      Other issues nations face is the longer term sharing of a legal ID by another person. It can be hard to track some in jobs with few questions or using limited digital databases. Capturing all faces e.g. as drivers, passengers, pedestrians in a city, entering a city will be key. Any unexpected duplicates will soon be logged in real time. Thats why so many public and private partnerships now exist to share all city CCTV, rail, bus, road use with vast federal CCTV networks. On a bike with a helmet and deep shapes around the eyes, nose might still be an option :) Not many options for diplomats, the press or whistleblowers to just meet anymore or to be very aware of expected human surveillance

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:Maybe not ... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle knew how to defeat gait. Just put a small pebble in your shoe. Or wear shoes that are too large, or too small. By altering your posture in subtle ways, you can vary your height by 2 inches easily. Even your apparent sex can be changed either temporarily or permanently, eliminating 50% of all possible matches in one shot.

      Any system we can devise, others can devise ways of defeating. Remember those Windows 95 install screens saying that this newest system was immune to viruses? The space shuttle being safe enough for a civilian school teacher to travel on? The enigma machine? Gummy bears for stealing finger prints? A picture or a video on a laptop to defeat facial recognition? Skimming passport and credit card data via rfid? Plastic and ceramic guns and knives to get past metal detectors?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    5. Re:Maybe not ... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Can't be done. Ever hear of rain and umbrellas? Hoodies? Snow and layers of winter clothing, including parkas and scarves? If you can't identify who's under that umbrella, sun hat with the broad brim, or winter parka with the hood, you can't say who came and went. And of course, people park their cars indoors, so you can't even tell who's in the car. Getting close and personal with your drone gives the game away, but unfortunately even then, you don't have many of the metrics (height, build) that you have when someone is walking, and they can just stick on an anonymous mask while driving.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    6. Re:Maybe not ... by houghi · · Score: 1

      Remember that this goes for both ways. They are working on defeating you, while you are trying to defeat them.

      However they will be winning, just because they can have false positives and false negatives, you can however NEVER ever have a true positive.

      And it will often just try to check if you are the person that you tell you are, so that would mean two identities. One where you walk when you are you and one with a pebble, where you are not you AND you must never mix those two up in any way.

      Remember how kat.cr got caught. You only need to screw up once and it was all for naught.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    7. Re:Maybe not ... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Even if they get a positive, all it will do is be positive on the identity you are displaying, not your other identity. So what? That's what you want.

      Anyone in the process of transitioning from one sex to the other will at one point be maintaining 2 identities. The latest stats are 3 per 1,000. Do you see that many? No, and you probably get a lot of false positives, same as the people who were shown pictures of three XX women and three Trans women, and asked to pick out the trans - and got it wrong almost all the time.

      Trans learn at a very young age to be someone they are not, because the consequences include getting the crap beaten out of you. Being who they really are is actually hard at first, because it's hard to drop the role. But if you want someone who knows how to pull off two identities, trans people would make the perfect recruits.

      Even our own mothers wouldn't recognize us :-) Some people refuse to believe even after you make full disclosure - and that's priceless to watch.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  9. That's just the beginning.... by romanval · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pretty soon computers can be programmed to identify people by their behavioural norms -- such as walking gait and other body language.

    1. Re: That's just the beginning.... by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 2

      Or their gps location of their phone.

      --
      God spoke to me
    2. Re: That's just the beginning.... by zlives · · Score: 1

      why take that step backwards when you can access the mic and camera?

    3. Re:That's just the beginning.... by Solandri · · Score: 2

      Being borderline Aspergers/autistic, that's actually how I identify people - by their body shape, the way they move, and the clothes they tend to wear. I was able to identify a friend walking on the opposite side of a soccer stadium simply by the way he walked. I can usually identify people from behind as well. At a winter party, I surprised a my friends when I was able to pick out most of their jackets and coats correctly from the big pile as they were leaving.

      In contrast, I have a really tough time identifying celebrities because normally you just mostly see their face. Something as simple as changing their hairstyle or sometimes even putting on lipstick is enough to fool me into not recognizing them anymore. Likewise, if I haven't seen someone in a long time and they've changed their taste in clothes and hairstyle (or if their face has aged), I usually won't recognize them. That is, until they're insulted and start to walk away and I recognize their gait from behind.

    4. Re:That's just the beginning.... by FoamingToad · · Score: 1

      Prosopagnosiac reporting in. Your experience sounds very similar to mine. Just a week or so I was at a house playing Shrek on some TV channel. Almost straight away I said 'that's Minsc'. Once your ability to recognise people based on features goes (or was never there) the mind does some amazing tricks to keep the social animal functional. Like you say, gait is very important. Vocal tone also (and it works whenever you aren't in line of sight). And though it sounds stupid, I tend to recognise friends passing by on their cars by the numberplate rather than by the dimly-lit person inside. Ah well. The celebrity thing doesn't work for me at all. Too many camera tricks, face changes, makeup and CGI. Am v.v.unlikely to recognise a person from one film to another. Unless they have identifying verbal characteristics (e.g. Steve Buscemi - could recognise him with my eyes closed very easily). Film directors, OTOH, remain as bits of speech rather than faceforms and therefore I can associate them very well. Sorry for the ramble, but I offer it with good will. There are other people in the same boat, and I hope it isn't too rough a ride. Be well.

    5. Re:That's just the beginning.... by FoamingToad · · Score: 1

      And sorry for wall of text, don't post here that often and am not used to whitespace being diverted to /dev/null.

  10. 69.6% certainty, sir. by gawdonblue · · Score: 2

    That's good enough. Take the shot.

  11. Not exactly correct by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2

    Look, WW II methods still work. Change clothing, reversible clothing, alter stride (the ministry of silly walks was actually based on real deep cover training), dazzle face paint, minor changes in cheeks, nose, chin, etc.

    They just want you to think they can spot you.

    And, yes, hoodies work. Best are backscatter hoodies with team logos that change.

    Hats also work.

    Facial recognition has a high failure rate in real world ops.

    Anyone that tells you otherwise is trying to sell you a bill of goods.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:Not exactly correct by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      They're telling me (and everyone) to try to sell it to a few people (FB, TLAs, etc.). It's like lie detectors. They have to convince everyone it works to sell to their customers.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
  12. We Will Sell Bullshit Thing to Feed Your Paranoia by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    From Robocop: "I had a guaranteed military sale with ED 209 - renovation program, spare parts for twenty-five years... Who cares if it worked or not."

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  13. Please clarify this so called "massive power..." by anniversary · · Score: 1

    By itself, the ability to instantly identify anyone just by seeing their face already "creates massive power imbalances"

  14. Clever, but not that useful in practice by melonman · · Score: 1

    91% success is impressive performance, but it maybe isn't that useful for, eg, spotting suspects on CCTV footage. For example, the London Underground carries nearly 5 million passenger journeys per day. 9% of that is 450,000. So, if we are talking false positives, nearly half a million non-suspects for humans to check every day. To put it another way, it's several non-suspects to check in every single carriage of every single train during peak times. This is why global surveillance often isn't a very good way to catch the bad guys.

    --
    Virtually serving coffee