Use a Bitmoji rather
than a photo to
represent you online44 7 - 20August 2019
TRICK FACIAL-RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGYthe added bonus that you’ll feel as if
you’ve stepped into a Jason Bourne spy
movie. The way they work is simple
enough: they project light, which
reflects off any camera lensesin the
area, allowing you to see themby
looking through the device’s own lens.
Amazon has an entire section devoted
to camera findersatbit.ly/camera481- prices start at lessthan £10.
Alternatively, you could install
a glint finder app on your phone.
These use your phone’s LEDflash
to detect cameras, but the results
tend to be pretty poor. Detectify
(bit.ly/detectify481) is one of the
best freeexamplesfor Android.
Wear special glasses or a hat
You can buy hats andglassesthat have
bright ‘near infrared’ (NIR) LEDsbuilt
in, or make your own. These devices foil
cameras by dazzling themso that the
resulting imagesare unusable. They
work well, too, but they also make it
very obvious to a camera operator that
you’re trying to avoidbeing recognised,
which is likely to arouse suspicion,
making you more conspicuous than
you might otherwise be.upper-right corner andremove your tag
fromthe photo.Don’t use photos of your face
If you have to
upload aphoto
for an online
account,it
doesn’t
actually have
to be a picture
of your face. It
could be a pet,
or even a cartoon
representation
of what you
look like. The
characters madein the Bitmoji app
(www.bitmoji.com) are fun, andyou
can make themlook as like or unlike you
as you want.Detect hidden cameras
Using acamera finder– also referred
to as a reflection orlensfinder– will
help you detect andavoid cameras, withTweak images before uploading
Faceshield (faceshield.ai) is a clever
photographic filter that adds noiseto
the facial landmarksin your images,
such as your eyes, nose andjawline,
which can trick recognition software
into thinking there isn’t a face there.
It offers a choice of three settings:
Subtle (which may fool somedetectors,
but not all), Medium (which fools more,
but may have your friends asking
questions about your new look) and
Intense (even your own mother may
not recogniseyou). To use Faceshield,
go to the website, click Upload Photo,
select a filter strength, then click
Upload Now. Select your image, then
download the edited one.
Remove photo tagsonTwitter
Gointo your account settings in Twitter
(bit.ly/twitter481) andselect Privacy
and Safety. Next to Photo tagging, you
can choose ‘Only allow people you
followto tagyou in photos’ or‘Do not
allow anyone to tagyou in photos’. The
latter option is the best choice. If you’ve
been tagged in a photo, open the tweet
you feature in, expand the menuin the
Digital-right s grou p Fight fo r the Future
has launchedan interactive map (www
.banfacialrecognition.com/map) that shows
where in the United States facial-recognition
technology isbeing used and where it’s being
resisted. The organisation is cr owdsourcing
the information and updating th e map as new
deta ils surface. Although the map covers on ly
the US, it’s still very interesting, because
understanding how facial recognition is current ly
being implemented over there will give us some
idea of how it is – or could be – used in the UK.
As we were going to press, BBC News reported
that MPs we re calling for the police and other
authorities to stop using live facial-recognition
technologies (bit.ly/police481), so resistanc e is
certainl y mounting.BAN FACIAL RECOGNITIONFaceshield tricks facial-recognition
software by adding noiseto your face
NIRglasses blind facial-recognition
cameras to stopthem identifying youDetectify
alerts you
to hidden
cameras that
may be
photographing
your face