Anti-facial recognition mask

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Person wearing a mask, glasses and a cap Person wearing COVID-19 mask.jpg
Person wearing a mask, glasses and a cap

An anti-facial recognition mask is a mask which can be worn to confuse facial recognition software. This type of mask is designed to thwart the surveillance of people by confusing the biometric data. There are many different types of masks which are used to trick facial recognition technology.

Contents

One low-technology method is to simply wear a mask over the mouth, along with sunglasses and a hat. Another type of anti-facial recognition mask involves the use of an asymmetrical face covering. Other designs make use of three dimensional faces to cover the wearer's face. Some masks are high tech; for instance, scientists at Fudan University in China are trying to create a mask which projects dots onto the wearer's face to confuse the technology.

Background

Many governments use facial recognition software to track and identify people using biometrics. [1] [2] Facial recognition software is complex and the technology utilizes CCTV to capture images. [3] Many countries use a two-dimensional technology to identify people. The technology works by taking an image of a person's face and matching the image with databases. Usually the technology measures the distance between points of a person's face. Three-dimensional facial recognition using infrared also exists. [3] Developers of facial recognition have realized that ears are just as unique as faces, so technology is being developed to identify people by their ears. [4]

Many governments maintain databases of facial photos from government issued identification card photos, arrest photos and surveillance. China has employed a mass surveillance system. The United States and the United Kingdom have employed the technology to help police make arrests. Singapore, Sydney, and Delhi are three of the cities which are among the most surveilled. [3] Companies also scrape images of faces from websites such as YouTube and Facebook, and sell the images to government agencies. In 2020 the company Clearview AI sold three billion photos that they scraped from websites to police and other law enforcement agencies. [5]

In 2019, protestors in Hong Kong attempted to hide their faces from CCTV cameras utilizing masks. The use of high-tech surveillance in countries around the world to monitor protests and identify participants has led to the use of anti-facial recognition masks to thwart the surveillance. [1] The use of the mask can protect those who engage in peaceful protests so that government facial recognition technology cannot track and intimidate the protestors. [2]

Design

Some mask designers have learned that a good design for an anti-facial recognition mask is to make the mask asymmetrical. One issue with using an asymmetrical mask is it can attract attention for the odd appearance. CNN said, "The resulting disguises look like amorphous, colorful blobs". [3] People have also utilized "anti-facial-recognition face paint" to fool the technology. [6] A mask can also be created with less technology, by using only a face mask and goggles. [7]

One London artist named Zach Blas creates masks using data from many different faces and his company offers a "Facial Weaponization Suite". Another artist, Leo Selvaggio, proposed that a mask with a single person's face could be distributed and it would fool the software into thinking one person was in many different places all at once. [3] [8] Selvaggio began selling a three-dimensional mask of his own face and The Guardian newspaper stated that "This mask may make Selvaggio the most wanted—though ultimately wrongly accused—man on earth". [9] He named his company "URME Surveillance" (You Are Me). [10]

At Fudan University in China, scientists are working on a mask which would project dots onto a person's face using infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are affixed to the inside of the wearer's baseball cap. German artist Adam Harvey proposed "Hyperface", which would fool the facial recognition software by printing many faces on a person's clothing to confuse the technology. His project is referred to as Computer Vision Dazzle. [4] [9]

A Polish designer, Ewa Nowak, created a face jewelry product called "Incognito". Three brass plates attach to the wearer's face and are connected by a wire. Nowak said that the product "[deflects] the software used to track you". [11] Makeup is also being used to fool the software: this low-tech method utilizes asymmetric makeup in patterns on the face. [12] The method is known as "anti-surveillance makeup". [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surveillance</span> Monitoring something for the purposes of influencing, protecting, or suppressing it

Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), or interception of electronically transmitted information like Internet traffic. Increasingly, governments may also obtain consumer data through the purchase of online information, effectively expanding surveillance capabilities through commercially available digital records. It can also include simple technical methods, such as human intelligence gathering and postal interception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mask</span> Any full or partial face covering, whether ceremonial, protective, decorative, or used as disguise

A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, as well as in the performing arts and for entertainment. They are usually worn on the face, although they may also be positioned for effect elsewhere on the wearer's body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prosthetic makeup</span> Techniques to create special cosmetic effects

Prosthetic makeup also known as special makeup effects or FX prosthesis, is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects. Prosthetics are used on stage and screen to create fantasy creatures, simulated injuries, or likenesses of other people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Facial recognition system</span> Technology capable of matching a face from an image against a database of faces

A facial recognition system is a technology potentially capable of matching a human face from a digital image or a video frame against a database of faces. Such a system is typically employed to authenticate users through ID verification services, and works by pinpointing and measuring facial features from a given image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face detection</span> Identification of human faces in images

Face detection is a computer technology being used in a variety of applications that identifies human faces in digital images. Face detection also refers to the psychological process by which humans locate and attend to faces in a visual scene.

Facial motion capture is the process of electronically converting the movements of a person's face into a digital database using cameras or laser scanners. This database may then be used to produce computer graphics (CG), computer animation for movies, games, or real-time avatars. Because the motion of CG characters is derived from the movements of real people, it results in a more realistic and nuanced computer character animation than if the animation were created manually.

Computer vision dazzle also known as CV dazzle, dazzle makeup, or anti-surveillance makeup, is a type of camouflage used to hamper facial recognition software, inspired by dazzle camouflage used by vehicles such as ships and planes.

The Preventing Persons from Concealing Their Identity during Riots and Unlawful Assemblies Act is a private member's bill, criminalising the actions of protesters who cover their faces during tumultuous demonstrations and introducing a five-year prison sentence for the offence, introduced before the House of Commons of Canada in October 2011 during the 41st Parliament. On February 15, 2012, a 190–97 vote confirmed that the bill would enter a second reading and be sent to the House Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass surveillance in India</span>

Mass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population. Mass surveillance in India includes Surveillance, Telephone tapping, Open-source intelligence, Lawful interception, and surveillance under Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass surveillance in China</span>

Mass surveillance in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the network of monitoring systems used by the Chinese central government to monitor Chinese citizens. It is primarily conducted through the government, although corporate surveillance in connection with the Chinese government has been reported to occur. China monitors its citizens through Internet surveillance, camera surveillance, and through other digital technologies. It has become increasingly widespread and grown in sophistication under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping's administration.

DeepFace is a deep learning facial recognition system created by a research group at Facebook. It identifies human faces in digital images. The program employs a nine-layer neural network with over 120 million connection weights and was trained on four million images uploaded by Facebook users. The Facebook Research team has stated that the DeepFace method reaches an accuracy of 97.35% ± 0.25% on Labeled Faces in the Wild (LFW) data set where human beings have 97.53%. This means that DeepFace is sometimes more successful than human beings. As a result of growing societal concerns Meta announced that it plans to shut down Facebook facial recognition system, deleting the face scan data of more than one billion users. This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology's history. Facebook planned to delete by December 2021 more than one billion facial recognition templates, which are digital scans of facial features. However, it did not plan to eliminate DeepFace which is the software that powers the facial recognition system. The company has also not ruled out incorporating facial recognition technology into future products, according to Meta spokesperson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visage Technologies AB</span> Swedish computer vision software company

Visage Technologies AB is a private company that produces computer vision software for face tracking and face analysis, along with a special business unit in automotive industry. The primary product of Visage Technologies is a multiplatform software development kit visageSDK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face ID</span> Facial recognition system by Apple

Face ID is a biometric authentication facial recognition system designed and developed by Apple Inc. for the iPhone and iPad Pro. The system can be used for unlocking a device, making payments, accessing sensitive data, providing detailed facial expression tracking for Animoji, as well as six degrees of freedom (6DOF) head-tracking, eye-tracking, and other features. Initially released in November 2017 with the iPhone X, it has since been updated and introduced to all iPhones outside of SE models and all iPad Pro models from 2018 onwards. Users on iOS 18 and newer can choose to lock specific apps, requiring Face ID to access them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Police surveillance in New York City</span>

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) actively monitors public activity in New York City, New York, United States. Historically, surveillance has been used by the NYPD for a range of purposes, including against crime, counter-terrorism, and also for nefarious or controversial subjects such as monitoring political demonstrations, activities, and protests, and even entire ethnic and religious groups.

Amazon Rekognition is a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) computer vision platform that was launched in 2016. It has been sold to, and used by, a number of United States government agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Orlando, Florida police, as well as private entities.

Clearview AI, Inc. is an American facial recognition company, providing software primarily to law enforcement and other government agencies. The company's algorithm matches faces to a database of more than 20 billion images collected from the Internet, including social media applications. Founded by Hoan Ton-That and Richard Schwartz, the company maintained a low profile until late 2019, until its usage by law enforcement was first reported.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Harvey (artist)</span> American artist and computer vision researcher

Adam Harvey is an American artist and researcher based in Berlin whose work focuses on computer vision, digital imaging technologies, and counter surveillance. His work includes projects combining art and technology as well as speaking and hosting talks on topics relating to data and computer vision.

Identity replacement technology is any technology that is used to cover up all or parts of a person's identity, either in real life or virtually. This can include face masks, face authentication technology, and deepfakes on the Internet that spread fake editing of videos and images. Face replacement and identity masking are used by either criminals or law-abiding citizens. Identity replacement tech, when operated on by criminals, leads to heists or robbery activities. Law-abiding citizens utilize identity replacement technology to prevent government or various entities from tracking private information such as locations, social connections, and daily behaviors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fawkes (software)</span> Facial image cloaking software

Fawkes is a facial image cloaking software created by the SAND Laboratory of the University of Chicago. It is a free tool that is available as a standalone executable. The software creates small alterations in images using artificial intelligence to protect the images from being recognized and matched by facial recognition software. The goal of the Fawkes program is to enable individuals to protect their own privacy from large data collection. As of May 2022, Fawkes v1.0 has surpassed 840,000 downloads. Eventually, the SAND Laboratory hopes to implement the software on a larger scale to combat unwarranted facial recognition software.

Mass surveillance in Iran looks into Iranian government surveillance of its citizens.

References

  1. 1 2 Stanley, Jay (24 November 2019). "Opinion: The Right To Hide Your Face". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Anti-Facial Recognition Masks". Liberties.eu. European Union. 9 June 2021. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Sottile, Zoe; Hollingsworth, Julia (25 August 2019). "Why protests are becoming increasingly faceless". CNN. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Valenti, Lauren (12 June 2020). "Can Makeup Be an Anti-Surveillance Tool?". Vogue. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  5. ↑ Bryson, Kevin (20 May 2023). "Evaluating Anti-Facial Recognition Tools | News | Physical Sciences Division | The University of Chicago". physicalsciences.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  6. ↑ Chen, Angela (29 February 2020). "How coronavirus turned the "dystopian joke" of FaceID masks into a reality". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  7. ↑ Mahtani, Shibani (15 June 2019). "Masks, cash and apps: How Hong Kong's protesters find ways to outwit the surveillance state". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 29 December 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  8. ↑ Lievrouw, Leah A. (20 April 2023). Alternative and Activist New Media (16 ed.). 2023: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-1-5095-0610-1 . Retrieved 27 January 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. 1 2 Jeffries, Stuart (14 August 2019). "Invisibility cloaks and 3D masks: how to thwart the facial recognition cameras". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  10. ↑ Katz, Leslie (8 May 2014). "Anti-surveillance mask lets you pass as someone else". CNET. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  11. ↑ Barnes, Sara (31 August 2019). "Artist Designs Metal Jewelry to Block Facial Recognition Software from Tracking You". My Modern Met. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  12. ↑ Tapper, James (1 February 2020). "Hiding in plain sight: activists don camouflage to beat Met surveillance". The Observer. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
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