Hyderabad: Anti-face make-up, use of colour, covering one’s face with a funky hairstyle: these are some techniques by young protesters to outwit police personnel trying to document them on mobile phones and surveillance cameras.
Police mobile phone photos go to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System database. Police departments are refining facial recognition technology for better policing, but also to track peaceful protesters who are gathering to voice their dissent. The database picture will be matched with that the Aadhaar card.
Police is also checking websites, social media, television and newspapers to capture faces of those on the streets protesting. They use high-end scanners for the database which will be used to track them during protests and also anti-social activities.
Against this Orwellian technology, youngsters are looking at evading computer recognition. “Key recognisable facial features are the nose-bridge, the eyes and skin colour,” said a young techie, demanding anonymity.
“These need to be painted over with blue, red and black stripes. Use of dark make-up on light skin and vice versa also helps. Those with long hair can opt for funky hairstyles to cover their face. Covering your forehead with a hat or a scarf also helps. This will not allow artificial intelligence to match your face.”
Most important is facial continuity, and when the scanners find interruptions in terms of unusual tones, contrasts or a bunch of bindis on the cheekbone, identification becomes a challenge. “Wearing a mask is not a good idea as it leads to attention rather than distracting from it,” explained another techie. The idea is to fool computer systems and that requires a precise camouflage that a facial recognition tool cannot recognise. The algorithms used in facial recognition work on the face’s symmetry, from the left to the right side. The crux is to keep an asymmetrical look that will be difficult to detect. “It started with finger prints and has soon expanded to facial recognition systems,” said Srinivas Kodali, cyber-security expert. “Hyderabad police, for example, uses an app TSCOP which is linked to CCTNS system. Isn’t this militarisation of the police? Do we really need this?”
