One Nation Under CCTV

I'm reminded of all the hand-wringing and furrowed brows in rapt concern over China's surveillance during the Beijing Olympics. Sadly, China can't hold a candle to the UK. I'm photographed about 100 times a day.

How to Hide from Machines

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CV Dazzle is a response. It is a form of expressive interference that combines highly stylized makeup and hair styling with face-detection thwarting designs. CV, or computer vision, Dazzle is an updated version of the original dazzle camouflage from WWI, which was used to protect warships from submarine attacks. Like the original dazzle war paint, CV Dazzle is an unobvious style of camouflage because its eye-catching patterns and colors draw attention instead of hiding from it. As decoration, CV Dazzle can be boldly applied as hair styling or makeup, or together in combination with accessories. As camouflage, this facial markup works to protect against automated face detection and recognition systems by altering the contrast and spatial relationship of key facial features. The variations are limitless.

When disrupting face-detection it is advisable to avoid wearing makeup that enhances facial features. For example, emphasizing the darkness around the eyes with eye shadow or eyeliner would make your face more visible to face detection algorithms. Ideally, your face would become the anti-face, or inverse. In the animal kingdom, this inverse effect is known as countershading. A similar effect can be achieved by creating a partial inverse that targets key areas of the face. For example, darkening or obscuring areas that normally appear light, such as the nosebridege area or the upper cheek. Areas that vary widely, such where facial hair grows, are lower priority. Since eyeglasses are commonly worn by many people, they are not typically considered obfuscations. Results will vary. The CV Dazzle protocols were developed to thwart face detection by OpenCV, which uses the Viola Jones method. The looks shown here were also tested and validated against Facebook’s PhotoTagger, Google’s Picasa, and eblearn.

Stasi in the U.S. of A.? There's an App for that!

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“If you see something, say something” is a public safety campaign widely promoted by railway transit systems and airports worldwide. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is promoting “See Something Say Something” to urge citizens to be alert and to help keep each other safe. The MBTA, the 5th largest transit system in the U.S. carrying almost 1.4 million riders per day, was the first subway system in America and is now the first transit system to incorporate Smartphones, 2-way real-time messaging and under-30-second reporting into the See Something Say Something campaign, with the help of ELERTS. The opportunity to crowdsource information from riders who witness suspicious or criminal activities has not been realized by transit systems. The See Say app allows MBTA riders to proactively communicate with transit authorities and also to receive alerts from authorities in emergency situations. For instance, the MBTA can send BOLO (Be On the Look Out) reports to riders, to enlist their help to find missing persons or persons of interest.

The development of the MBTA app is an exciting first that we helped to roll out for the transit industry – and just the tip of such developments that we’ll be a part of as more industries embrace smartphones and crowdsourcing in new and more strategic ways. We see such use as applicable across many more infrastructure organizations like hospitals, school and office campuses, and power utilities. There are exciting developments to come as organizations recognize how they can use ELERTS to improve safety for their employees and customers. Stay tuned!

If you see something say something for smart phones Using this app, riders can send the MBTA Transit Police pictures, text messages, and locations of unattended packages or suspicious activity.