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There is a weak component to facial recognition systems that can be exploited to make one invisible to facial recognition, but you stick out like a sore thumb t

There is a weak component to facial recognition systems that can be exploited to make one invisible to facial recognition, but you stick out like a sore thumb to people. The exploit is to not have a human face, meaning the regular pattern of two eyes centered above a nose and mouth. The exploit is as simple as placing a sticker of a 3rd eye, a 2nd nose, or any other facial feature that is "not human" and you will be invisible to facial recognition. The reason this works is because the initial test for finding faces in images is a weak test, it has to be fast because it has to evaluate every possible rectangle in a video frame. That test is looking for the regular human pattern of a human face, and it that test passes that rectangle get more investigation. Failing that initial test, that rectangle is invisible...

Frieren 20d ago
> but you stick out like a sore thumb to people Good point. When I pass by the security at the airport they force me to take off my hat. Something covering my face would not be taken lightly.
- iamnothere 20d ago
  Perhaps a tattoo then.
  - Morromist 20d ago
    Hmm. I wonder how long till we can implant little lights or color changers in our skin, like a moving tattoo that change color based on some wireless code we send, or special light we shine on them, so that you could essentially add or subtract facial features every couple of minutes. I think if we could get the tech figured out it would be a big hit. People love tattoos, but the unchangability makes them disagreeable for me.
    - bsenftner 20d ago
      Oh, you bring up the 2nd method that defeats facial recognition, and it is a similar exploit that attacks a weakness in the technology chain. Remember "Ed Hardy" that god awful fashion from around 2013 where clothing had graffitti, sequins, and flashing LEDs? You now love that fashion and bring it back, because those little flashing LEDs, if close to your face, and flashing at irregular intervals cause the nearby face to become silhouetted. The reason is the flash overwhelms the light sensor, causing the light aperture to adjust, but that adjustment is out of sync with those flashing LEDs. The LEDs and their irregular flash cause the lighting aperture to be constantly adjusting and never quite correct. You'll b seen by facial recognition, but the image quality will be nearly useless. Blinky LEDs on eyeglass frames are a perfect location, as well as the brim of a hat.
      - rbanffy 19d ago
        The lights don’t even need to be too visible. Many of the cameras used for face recognition don’t have IR filters.
avidiax 20d ago
Would an eye patch work? Maybe a flesh colored one?
- bsenftner 20d ago
  No, people with missing eyes and eye patches are in the training data.
sorenjan 20d ago
Sounds like you're describing Viola–Jones, which is from 2001. Have you tried this strategy of a third eye or similar using modern face detectors?
- bsenftner 16d ago
  Nope, not Viola–Jones. I'm describing the initial fast test that is a preprocessor to pretty much all facial recognition, before the FR model processes anything. FR models process potential face rectangles, and this method goes after the preprocessing. This works on all the top FR models. I wrote one of the global top 5, with over a decade running as certified by the annual NIST FR Vendor's Test.
SwtCyber 20d ago
[flagged]

Frieren 20d ago

> but you stick out like a sore thumb to people Good point. When I pass by the security at the airport they force me to take off my hat. Something covering my face would not be taken lightly.

iamnothere 20d ago
Perhaps a tattoo then.
- Morromist 20d ago
  Hmm. I wonder how long till we can implant little lights or color changers in our skin, like a moving tattoo that change color based on some wireless code we send, or special light we shine on them, so that you could essentially add or subtract facial features every couple of minutes. I think if we could get the tech figured out it would be a big hit. People love tattoos, but the unchangability makes them disagreeable for me.
  - bsenftner 20d ago
    Oh, you bring up the 2nd method that defeats facial recognition, and it is a similar exploit that attacks a weakness in the technology chain. Remember "Ed Hardy" that god awful fashion from around 2013 where clothing had graffitti, sequins, and flashing LEDs? You now love that fashion and bring it back, because those little flashing LEDs, if close to your face, and flashing at irregular intervals cause the nearby face to become silhouetted. The reason is the flash overwhelms the light sensor, causing the light aperture to adjust, but that adjustment is out of sync with those flashing LEDs. The LEDs and their irregular flash cause the lighting aperture to be constantly adjusting and never quite correct. You'll b seen by facial recognition, but the image quality will be nearly useless. Blinky LEDs on eyeglass frames are a perfect location, as well as the brim of a hat.
    - rbanffy 19d ago
      The lights don’t even need to be too visible. Many of the cameras used for face recognition don’t have IR filters.

avidiax 20d ago

Would an eye patch work? Maybe a flesh colored one?

bsenftner 20d ago
No, people with missing eyes and eye patches are in the training data.

sorenjan 20d ago

Sounds like you're describing Viola–Jones, which is from 2001. Have you tried this strategy of a third eye or similar using modern face detectors?

bsenftner 16d ago
Nope, not Viola–Jones. I'm describing the initial fast test that is a preprocessor to pretty much all facial recognition, before the FR model processes anything. FR models process potential face rectangles, and this method goes after the preprocessing. This works on all the top FR models. I wrote one of the global top 5, with over a decade running as certified by the annual NIST FR Vendor's Test.

SwtCyber 20d ago

[flagged]