Thread by @sauramaia

#lca2019 @attacus_au on the non-consensual use of public tech use, and how to be evade it.

spoiler: reality is already scarier than scifi.

this is a live system adding metadata - pants vs skirt, direction of travel - of pedestrians

@attacus_au #lca2019 @attacus_au this chinese system matches faces to ones it knows, at a public escalator - v high accuracy, e.g. people travel the same way to work

@attacus_au #lca2019 @attacus_au researcher joy buolomwini found her face wasn’t picked up by face classifiers due to her dark skin, so tested a few algorithms. high accuracy: M presenting light skin, low accuracy F presenting dark skin.

@attacus_au #lca2019 @attacus_au ah yes, the gaydar face algorithm.

algorithms are made by biased humans, who are very bad at algorithm and experimental design.

i.e. don’t believe the hype

@attacus_au #lca2019 @attacus_au: @WestfieldAU shopping malls install cameras, in advertising screens, data used to profile demographics of users looking at it.

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au Have You Been Naughty Or Nice, the creepy church edition

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au facial recognition aimed at answering: who is this person?

how much do we trust the algorithm that is trying to answer that question?

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au
facial recognition systems have 3 parts:

detection
faceprint creation
recognition

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au
detection methods: meshes between dots, or projections

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au recognition:
DeepFace, an ill-advised name is 98% accurate according to FB

and then there are convolutional neural networks. lilly tested one with masks and fake beards - yep, it works

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au
and now, for the disappearance part:
- if you’re a hacker in a stock photo, wear a balaclava NOPE
- print a mask of a face - 2D or 3D YEP
- pull a weird face YEP
- $680NZ scarf YEP
- papparazzi visor YEP but a pain to wear

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au …or just wear a flashlight on your forehead, which dazzles the camera

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au in WWI adam harvey tried to camouflage ships to disguise their speed, size and direction of travel

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au show the cameras things that look like a lot of faces, i.e. fake news yourself

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au according to this neural network:
banana = banana
banana + sticker = toaster

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au shining infrared light in different patterns onto someone’s face tricked the FR to think it was four different people, including moby

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au the algorithms used in facial recognition are not
- independently audited
- tested for bias
- treated as speculative and as experimental as they actually are

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au The Australian #aabill Is Terrible News, the lilly edition: reasons too many to capture

@attacus_au @WestfieldAU #lca2019 @attacus_au
more skpeticism
more clarity
more auditing