Urban Survival: Against Facial Recognition

Facial recognition is on everyone's lips. And not only because it can be used by security agencies, but also by Google or Facebook. It's interesting, of course, that the citizen is supposed to be identified wherever he is, even if he doesn't know he's being scanned.

For example, the US government is working on a system that can identify individuals from a large crowd using facial recognition. The goal is to recognize people even at a distance of about 100 meters. The "Biometric Optical Surveillance System," or BOSS, underwent testing last year.

BOSS is based on autonomous cameras with infrared and distance sensors. The cameras take photos from various angles. Using software, they are combined into 3D images and compared with photos from databases of suspicious individuals. In the test, the system achieved an accuracy of 60 to 70 percent over longer distances. This is not yet good enough for everyday use. However, we have little doubt that similar systems are already in use.

Essentially, certain distances in the face are measured and these create an individual image. Those who want to protect themselves have it easier if they are men. The classic sunglasses already disrupt the facial measurement quite well because they cover the eye area, which provides the essential parameters for facial recognition. The values improve even more if a man has a full beard and long hair. But maybe that already looks suspicious...