How To Beat Facial Recognition Technology

Facial recognition technology isn’t part of science fiction anymore, it’s something that’s being employed by a handful of governments around the world, and even private enterprise is getting in on it with applications like Facedeals. If you don’t want to be pinged in public by a surveillance suite though, hacktivist group Anonymous have made a handy instructional video to keep you safe.

Tips to dodge facial recognition software include wearing a clear plastic mask to make your facial features unrecognisable to video surveillance, because your face appears all reflecty and blurred. Another way the Anons suggest is to tilt your head more than 15 degrees to the side, as software limitations means you’ll be rendered undetectable. You can also apply “elaborate makeup” — Gotye-style — to make yourself invisible to facial recognition tech.

All of these make you look pretty silly, though.

The best way to do it that the Anons recommend is to get a few infrared lights powered by a nine-volt battery and attach it to to a hat. The lights will be relatively invisible to the naked eye, but cameras looking to identify you will pick up the light and the resulting bloom will cover your face completely when viewed by cameras.

It’s not often you can say this but thanks, Anonymous! [RT]


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