Japanese 'Privacy Goggles' Block Facial Recognition Software
The glasses, developed at Tokyo's National Institute of Informatics, are equipped with a near-infrared light source that confuses the software without disrupting vision.
"As a result of developments in facial recognition technology in Google images, Facebook et cetera and the popularisation of portable terminals that append photos with photographic information [geotags] ... essential measures for preventing the invasion of privacy caused by photographs taken in secret and unintentional capture in camera images [are] now required," one of the researchers, Isao Echizen, told BBC.
Echizen noted that the glasses, which connect to a pocket power supply, will be a reasonably priced alternative to tactics such as using heavy make-up, wearing a mask, or tilting your head at a 15-degree angle (which fools the software into thinking you do not have a face).
In October we reported that scientists were working on providing police with technology that could drunk 'persons of interest' out of the crowd by creating infrared facial recognition algorithms that map the heat on the surface of the face.
The one invasive surveillance apparatus that it may not be able to obstruct is TrapWire — the widespread surveillance network that was created and is run by former members of the CIA — since the founder of TrapWire's parent company said the software "can collect information about people and vehicles that is more accurate than facial recognition."
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