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Now that facemasks are normalized in the American public, surely this tech is pretty inert now? I imagine people will start wearing their masks for any cold or

Now that facemasks are normalized in the American public, surely this tech is pretty inert now? I imagine people will start wearing their masks for any cold or flu, not just COVID, like other countries have been doing for years. Any would be shoplift is now socially allowed to conceal their face at all times. And if you weren’t a shop lift, it sounds like taking public transit, walking, or biking, and paying with cash will be king for the privacy conscious. At least this will force a few people into better mobility habits.

hanniabu 6y ago
tin foil hat I'm going to go out on a limb and say the anti-mask campaigns were started by parties that have vested interests in facial tracking (I don't have any evidence to support this assumption).
- thephyber 6y ago
  There were anti-mask leagues in 1918. I'm pretty sure those weren't funded by companies pushing facial tracking computers/services.
knightofmars 6y ago
>Now that facemasks are normalized in the American public, surely this tech is pretty inert now? No, facial recognition is based on the distance of points on your face (nose, center of eyes, eyebrows, etc). A mask only covers the lower half of your face. It may make facial recognition slightly less accurate but it still works. Casinos have been using facial recognition for some time to detect individuals who have been banned. These banned individuals have gone as far as hiring professional make-up artists to change their appearances but facial recognition still works due to the fact that certain points on the face (e.g. distance between eyes) cannot be altered. The accuracy is reduced but there's still a large enough confidence interval to cause an intervention by casino security.
- shard 6y ago
  In that case, are masks + sunglasses enough? Or should a hat that covers the ears be thrown in as well? I think that combination should still pass as fairly normal, especially in sunny locales.
  - texasbigdata 6y ago
    Some sort of tinfoil headwear would be ideal to make sure RFID is blocked too!
- bargl 6y ago
  This depends on the algorithm. There are some public algorithms that get crushed by things like facial hair, glasses, etc. The better the algorithm the harder it is to spoof. But some of the older/crappier ones can be defeated just by tilting your head to the side. This is my understanding and when I was playing around with some algorithms it was a grading metric for the algorithms.
anonAndOn 6y ago
Your financial overlords are working hard to eliminate this obvious data leak. The first domino has already fallen. [0] [0]https://sweden.se/business/cashless-society/ https://sweden.se/business/cashless-society/
stjohnswarts 6y ago
Yeah this is why we need to make it normal to wear sun glasses and trench coats and baseball caps. Both a fashion statement and a rejection of surveillance everywhere. Also bitcoin and cash should be as normal as popping out a credit card
- Barrin92 6y ago
  >Yeah this is why we need to make it normal to wear sun glasses and trench coats and baseball caps I think we could also simply pass laws against digital surveillance instead of forcing everyone to dress like a mix of Inspector Gadget and a sex offender
  - espCrunch 6y ago
    We could. I’m not holding my breath.
  - pseudosavant 6y ago
    This is the funniest comment I've ever read on HN.
- wrycoder 6y ago
  Hoodies and large face masks should do the trick. And mirrored contact lenses?
blaser-waffle 6y ago
> Now that facemasks are normalized in the American public, surely this tech is pretty inert now? Only if you're wearing sunglasses and a hat. Even then there are ways to get at people, such as gait analysis, or your cellphone tattling on you via bluetooth or wifi.

hanniabu 6y ago

tin foil hat I'm going to go out on a limb and say the anti-mask campaigns were started by parties that have vested interests in facial tracking (I don't have any evidence to support this assumption).

thephyber 6y ago
There were anti-mask leagues in 1918. I'm pretty sure those weren't funded by companies pushing facial tracking computers/services.

knightofmars 6y ago

>Now that facemasks are normalized in the American public, surely this tech is pretty inert now? No, facial recognition is based on the distance of points on your face (nose, center of eyes, eyebrows, etc). A mask only covers the lower half of your face. It may make facial recognition slightly less accurate but it still works. Casinos have been using facial recognition for some time to detect individuals who have been banned. These banned individuals have gone as far as hiring professional make-up artists to change their appearances but facial recognition still works due to the fact that certain points on the face (e.g. distance between eyes) cannot be altered. The accuracy is reduced but there's still a large enough confidence interval to cause an intervention by casino security.

shard 6y ago
In that case, are masks + sunglasses enough? Or should a hat that covers the ears be thrown in as well? I think that combination should still pass as fairly normal, especially in sunny locales.
- texasbigdata 6y ago
  Some sort of tinfoil headwear would be ideal to make sure RFID is blocked too!
bargl 6y ago
This depends on the algorithm. There are some public algorithms that get crushed by things like facial hair, glasses, etc. The better the algorithm the harder it is to spoof. But some of the older/crappier ones can be defeated just by tilting your head to the side. This is my understanding and when I was playing around with some algorithms it was a grading metric for the algorithms.

anonAndOn 6y ago

Your financial overlords are working hard to eliminate this obvious data leak. The first domino has already fallen. [0] [0]https://sweden.se/business/cashless-society/ https://sweden.se/business/cashless-society/

stjohnswarts 6y ago

Yeah this is why we need to make it normal to wear sun glasses and trench coats and baseball caps. Both a fashion statement and a rejection of surveillance everywhere. Also bitcoin and cash should be as normal as popping out a credit card

Barrin92 6y ago
>Yeah this is why we need to make it normal to wear sun glasses and trench coats and baseball caps I think we could also simply pass laws against digital surveillance instead of forcing everyone to dress like a mix of Inspector Gadget and a sex offender
- espCrunch 6y ago
  We could. I’m not holding my breath.
- pseudosavant 6y ago
  This is the funniest comment I've ever read on HN.
wrycoder 6y ago
Hoodies and large face masks should do the trick. And mirrored contact lenses?

blaser-waffle 6y ago

> Now that facemasks are normalized in the American public, surely this tech is pretty inert now? Only if you're wearing sunglasses and a hat. Even then there are ways to get at people, such as gait analysis, or your cellphone tattling on you via bluetooth or wifi.