STOP CALLING IT PARANOIA! FFS, This stuff is being used to track people that go to protests.
404 needs to shove their paranoia and normalize using truth and real words and not hedging like CNN or something.
I don't disagree so curious, what would be your title instead?
Zenni eyewear: the urban surveillance countermeasure you didn't know you need.
-or-
Why the feds and Wal Mart hate Zenni eyewear.
Or just to change the obnoxious adjective
"Zenni’s Anti-Facial Recognition Glasses are Eyewear for Our Dystopian Age"
Replace "paranoid" with "highly surveilled." Just say what it is.
Easy swap out.
Here's an actual link to the tech: Zenni ID Guard
Pretty wild getting hit with a message to accept all cookies.
Huh. I didn't get a notice to accept cookies. The only thing I have enabled in their stack is:
"All-in-one defense across the light spectrum —reflects near-infrared light, filters blue light, blocks 100% UV rays, and is light-adaptive for all-day comfort."
Apart from defending against facial recognition, this is really dope.
Please dont link to paywalled articles, unless you paste the whole article contents in the post
Oops, sorry!
Ty
So, how are these different that wearing a pair of very dark, wrap around sunglasses?
Those don't block infrared. They're basically transparent to it.
I’ve been thinking for a little while that it might be interesting to build on a pair of glasses with a couple IR LEDs at either edge and a battery pack to light them up. I can’t decide if that would be good to wear to a protest because the glare would likely obscure your entire face to cameras, or if it would be a bad idea because you’d stick out immediately on any surveillance.
That would probably be more effective as a form of protest against such technologies.
Yeah but:
https://xkcd.com/1105/
DIY hoodie https://www.popsci.com/technology/camera-shy-hoodie-privacy/
These glasses are pricey tho, so maybe DIY based on the hoodie https://www.reflectacles.com/#home
I don't even know if it would work. Most cameras have an IR filter they use during the day.
There's another site that sells actual privacy sunglasses (full IR blocking + reflective frames) but they've been sold out for months.
Reflectacles?
I've had two pairs of these I bought years ago but unfortunately lost one pair. Chatted with the guy when I bought them and he seemed like a sound guy. I hope being sold out means his business is doing well!
Only issue I have with them is they aren't really wide enough and I have a small head. Not that they fit badly, they aren't too tight but the design looks too small on my face that it looks a bit comedic tbh.
They are also really nice to drive in at night as they stop you from being blinded by the absurdity that is modern headlights.
Version alpha
I like the idea, but don't just buy these assuming you're good to go, and then walk around with a normie iPhone or Android device that phones home constantly with your precise location and device ID, SIM information etc.
There is always at least some error rate and deniability in probabilistic matching by something like facial recognition. There is a lot less deniability of your specific device ID, tied to your real identity (thanks to KYC laws), being in X location at Y time.
So, these actually work great when IR is used (for example you won't be able to unlock your iPhone when wearing them), however my question is, does this help at all when just a normal photo is taken? You can wear these, have a 'normal' photo taken and it just looks like you're wearing standard glasses. That could then be fed through CV, etc?
Article says no.
Ma'am, this is the Internet. That's the last place I would think of checking. If it ain't in the headline, it didn't happen.
Especially when the article is paywalled (or at least login-walled).
I can unlock my phone while wearing them.
[edit]
-I don't rely on biometrics, though.
Oh, I tend to grab Zenni glasses every couple of years and saw that option. I opted against since I didn't think they were much more than a gimmick, but also at time (and probably still is) they were not compatible with the kind that auto tint in the sun.
I'm also pretty sure if I do get tracked, they have my phone and my unique appearance. I'm not sure someone of my height and build is going to be able to Luigi someone.
I actually recently bought a pair of Zennis and saw this advertising before it made the rounds in the media. The advertising was extremely generic in describing how it worked.
So this is it? Just IR blocking? Like, your eyes are not your whole face. Put a pair of sunglasses on and achieve the same thing...
The idea is it reflects IR and blows out the exposure.
But IR Is only on during low light conditions.
I’m just pointing out that it’s not IR blocking, it’s IR reflecting.
Videos testing these glasses show that face-id doesn't work when wearing them. This demonstrates that (at least for Apple), covering your eye area is enough to defeat IR-based facial recognition.
It kind of has a red tinted layer which creates red blobs in quite a lot of different lighting conditions. Even with non IR photography, if you are standing outside or under bright lights there's a good chance any pictures will end up with red artifacts in the lenses, partially or completely obscuring your eyes.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)