Researchers Develop Glasses To Protect You from Facial Recognition

Facial recognition software is cropping up everywhere, so it was only a matter of time before anti facial recognition tech started to catch up. Naturally, Japan is leading the way in R&D.

That’s right; Japan’s National Institute of Informatics is now developing ‘privacy glasses’ that make human faces unreadable to machines.

An earlier (less flattering and less fashionable) prototype of the privacy glass used near infrared lights to confuse cameras into not seeing a face.

According to a press release from the NII, this time, the researchers are attaching a novel material (they don’t mention what exactly it is) to the visors. The material confuses facial recognition systems by absorbing and reflecting light. In a nutshell, it prevents facial recognition systems from focusing on your facial features.

The NII has since tweaked the technology a little. The second-gen version uses a new unspecified material, along with a patterned surface to absorb and reflect light. Design-wise, the new titanium-framed privacy visor is also a lot slicker. Now, rather than looking like you just stepped out of Hackers, you’ll blend right in with all the extreme sports enthusiasts. Significantly more inconspicuous and less suspicious.

The glasses tricked smartphone cameras in 90 percent of tests with facial recognition software, The Wall Street Journal reports. If all goes well, they’ll hit the stores in Japan next June. For only $240 USD, you too will soon be able to avoid surveillance in style.

MotherBoard