I asked Andi

Recent advances in facial recognition technology have sparked development of various counter-surveillance clothing and accessories. These anti-surveillance methods fall into several key categories:

Physical Alterations and Clothing

• Patterned clothing with complex designs that confuse facial recognition algorithms^[1]
• Reflective materials that bounce back infrared light used by security cameras^[1:1]
• Special scarves and hoodies designed to break up facial features^[1:2]
• The “Camera Shy Hoodie” with embedded IR LEDs that overexpose security camera footage^[2]
• Cap_Able brand clothing with patterns designed to deceive recognition systems^[3]

Technical Solutions

• Infrared LED glasses that blind facial recognition cameras while remaining invisible to human eyes^[1:3]
• Anti-surveillance devices that emit signals to interfere with camera sensors^[1:4]
• Reflectacles privacy eyewear that blocks IR cameras^[4]

Professional Applications

• Small reflective dot stickers used for motion tracking and high-speed camera detection^[5]
• Camera obscura techniques used by photographers and artists^[6]

Law Enforcement Concerns

• Police forces are expanding use of facial recognition vans and technology^[7][8]
• Civil liberties groups argue the technology shows racial bias and privacy concerns^[9]
• West Yorkshire’s Crime Commissioner states that facial recognition data “will not be stored”^[7:1]

Sources:

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1. Luxand - How to Fool and Avoid Facial Recognition in Public Places ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

2. Mac Pierce - The Camera Shy Hoodie ↩︎

3. Maker Faire Rome - Fabric to deceive facial recognition systems ↩︎

4. Reflectacles - Ghost Privacy Eyewear & Sunglasses ↩︎

5. Amazon - Golf Club & Golf Ball Reflective Dot Stickers ↩︎

6. Wikipedia - Camera obscura ↩︎

7. BBC - ‘Facial recognition can make mistakes, it’s not a decision-maker’ ↩︎ ↩︎

8. Facebook - Digital face recognition camera van in Albany Rd ↩︎

9. Yahoo/Telegraph - Facial recognition cameras at Notting Hill Carnival ‘are racially biased’ ↩︎