These Glasses Will Protect You From Facial Recognition

When you see this you just think, of course that would be possible. What you are looking at is a pair of glasses which will shield you from facial recognition software.

The device is equipped with near-infrared light sources which distort the features of one who wears the glasses for cameras and at the same time do not affect his or her vision.

The glasses are powered by a battery placed in the wearer’s pocket. But the researchers say they are working on an improved version of their ‘privacy visor’ which would not need a separate battery.

The creators are an associate professor at Tokyo’s national Institute of Informatics, Isao Echizen, together with Professor Seiichi Gohshi from Kogakuin University. Some companies have already demonstrated interest in the device, the inventors said. When mass-produced the glasses are expected to be priced very reasonably, at about $1 a pair.

According to Professor Echizen, the essential goal of the technology is to protect “photographed subjects from the invasion of privacy caused by photographs taken in secret and unintentional capture in camera images.”

The idea of the device came about as  Echizen discovered that Google face recognition technology was able to recognize individuals wearing five different types of sunglasses from various angles.

Face recognition technology is extensively used by law enforcement services, internet search engines and social networks. The technology also has been adopted by shops to collect statistical data about their customers for better marketing.

I think however this technology would be easy to circumvent through software.