Lest you question that facial recognition technology is fraught with privacy and other concerns coming from the citizenry, the above image (not to mention those that follow) should dispel any doubts you may have. As reported at sites such as Boing Boing, MAKE Magazine and Slashdot, a New York-based designer called CV Dazzle has come up with makeup and haircut combinations that are claimed to confuse visage analytics algorithms while still enabling reliable and unique identification of an individual by other humans' eyes and brains.
The name, in case you're wondering, comes from the Dazzle camouflage painting technique used beginning in World War I to disguise the shapes, sizes, directions and speeds of travel of warships. Adam Harvey, an Interactive Telecommunications Program graduate student at New York University, came up with CV (presumably standing for computer vision) Dazzle as his master's thesis.
I don't know about you, but if this is what it takes to fool facial recognition technology, I'll stick to a baseball cap and sunglasses…or just continue to lead a clean life and take my chances.
