Face/Off (sort of...)

[nbk2000]

While cruising the new cosplay section at 4chan, I saw a term:

photogenic mask

that I'd never seen before.

So, off to Google I go.

This is what I found:

http://photogenicdoll.cutegirl.jp/mask/photos/main.html

It's a two piece silicone head mask, complete with eyes and hair, that you wear over your own own.

It's intended for men who want to cosplay as female characters in a convincing manner.

When I saw this I was thinking "Hmmm...from anything further away than spitting distance, it'd be very difficult to tell just from looking at the face/head that it wasn't a woman.

Obviously, if you're built like Bubba, the head alone isn't going to cut it, but for those annoying CCTV cameras with facial recognition that are popping up everywhere, it'd be just the ticket to get the hell outta of town, so you don't get spotted driving across the border. :p

Sort of like the head mask that Arnold wore in the movie Total Recall, when trying to sneak onto Mars.

http://www.tribute.ca/tribute_objects/images/movies/total_recall/totalrecall2.jpg

The only thing that'd spoil it is the fact that the thing doesn't blink and you can't move the mouth as you talk. :(

I wouldn't try using it face-to-face, but from a distance...might save you from a bust. (A pun! :D)

[akinrog]

The only thing that'd spoil it is the fact that the thing doesn't blink and you can't move the mouth as you talk. :(

I wouldn't try using it face-to-face, but from a distance...might save you from a bust. (A pun! :D)

I remember an episode of Forensic Detectives / Medical Detectives on Discovery channel where the culprit who killed his wife by tampering with the flu capsules of his wife (by opening the shrink container of the tablets with a razor) and adding cyanide into capsules.

The detectives determined that he (the culprit) disguised himself as an old man by using plastic makeup that theathers use, to purchase cyanide in recognito.

I always considered it's beneficial for a survivalist to use plastic make up for disguising oneself, but I'm sure it requires a certain level of makeup talent. Maybe it's time for us to attend a makeup course with other trainee softy men and softer women :D.

....it, but for those annoying CCTV cameras with facial recognition that

BTW, I always thought CCTV with facial recognition is an exaggeration. I mean I saw the concept on discovery; there is facial recognition, but it's not automatic but manual, where the operator of the computer determines certain points on the acquired picture of the suspect to be identified. Am I wrong about it?

In addition, if there is any automatic process, then it's much more better, since computer's are not as intelligent as human beings thus easier to fool, by plastic makeup or even a large Italian style sunglasses (those sunglasses which are as big as protective googles). In addition, only thing to fool a facial recognition system is to change/conceal distance between your eyes, eyebrows, ears, and width, angle of your nose and your mouth. Regards

[Silentnite]

As a theatre buff, and a self-proclaimed actor. Its really not as hard as you think to apply stage makeup. Looking in a mirror you can tell what looks natural and what looks like a piece of something sliding off your face.

[Jacks Complete]

Facial recognition is here, and beyond fully automatic. The UK, leaders in subject supression mechanisms, are feilding automatic systems left and right. The police now park a van and go away, knowing that when they come back, hundreds of lovely fines are there, waiting, for both speed and tax and seatbelts and more, all pulled automatically via an electronic camera reading the plate and tax disk, and cross-referring it.

New systems can track a suspect flagged by the computer across multiple cameras and locations without human intervention. Hundreds or thousands of people can be checked from crowd shots automatically, allowing tracking of entire football crowds.

Between the two, anyone can be tracked pretty much anywhere by the thousands of cameras littering the UK, giving the illusion of safety. Hence almost every "youth" wears a half-face mask, hoodie top or scarf to walk around.

I might have to invest...

EDIT: http://photogenicdoll.cutegirl.jp/mask/photos/a2/2k40724s.jpg Damn, that is realistic!

[nbk2000]

Checked the site today and see that they now have several white female styles, in addition to the asian ones they original had.

Now if only they'd make a mask of an African-American male that 'fits the description'. :D

[InfernoMDM]

Jacks - While the systems will take pictures, and process you against your vehicles registration I think were 2-5 years from a truly automated system that can compare your face to a photo. Even then I think you will need a facial scan which will probably have to be done at say the DMV etc. I know a guy who got a ticket for shooting through a red light. Well he actually wasn't the driver it was his wife, but the ticket was addressed to him. Needless to say that ticket got dropped.

Silentnite - I agree. Although if the facial recognition system advances far enough masks like this, cheekbone and eye ridge modification might be very important. For now a little hair dye, wigs, and some well done makeup should fool everything from cameras to people. Maybe some prosthetic facial pieces. I know several books are out on the subject, although I haven't seen a lot of great information on the topic. Then again I have yet to look into the library feature or gaining access on this site.

[Match]

I know a guy who got a ticket for shooting through a red light. Well he actually wasn't the driver it was his wife, but the ticket was addressed to him. Needless to say that ticket got dropped.


What country is this? :confused:

In Canada, as the registered vehicle owner, you are responsible for your vehicle. Anytime it gets caught by a red light or speed camera you have to pay the fine, regardless of circumstance. This of course means that there is no demerits or 'points' against your license. Even if you can prove you were not driving, you're still responsible for the fine.

[FUTI]

I forget about this thread...so thanks guys for bringing it up. It seems that at least one of the masks presented in each present category is poorly made. They are all great but redhead asian and euro3 are more obviously fake. It may look to you like I'm spliting the hair but I think that some characteristics are yet harder to copy. It will fool automated facial recognition anyway unless they add something like thermal sensors (maybe they start recording in IR) which will give away the forgery I believe.

[InfernoMDM]

Match - USA NJ if I recall correctly. He was TDY some where with his wife.

FUTI - I agree that these aren't very good masks. Although I haven't seen (doesn't mean they don't exist) any thermal viewers that could possibly identify anyone by recognizing heat patterns. Not only does are body flux but the majority of thermal optics on the market, and even in production just can't get enough detail in the facial region to make them viable. Thats more of a opinion I know and someone might be able to add more information to repute that, but I haven't seen it yet.

[FUTI]

What I meant is that heat flux of human face and mask will most likely be different to such level that machine or skilled operator can spot a person having mask on.

I have a friend that told me that wavelength of light reflected from materials used for masking soldiers in combat is so distinct from natural background that it makes them useless. For todays aircraft IR cameras they will give you away instead. Tech therefore is here...but will army give it away is another issue.

EDIT: I agree with NBK post after this one. Athough I separated those threats in differnt paragraphs I just jump ahead without clarification. I come back to correct my grammer too.

[nbk2000]

Thermal emmisitivity, and infrared reflectance, are different threats.

The distribution of capillaries in the face is unique (like fingerprints) and allow for unique identification, but only at extremely close range and with co-operative targets.

Thermal imagers don't work through glass, so windshields are effective shields in that aspect.

Infrared light can penetrate materials that are otherwise opaque to the naked eye, so it's entirely possible that masks that seem flawless in visible light would appear bizarre under IR, as seams may become apparent, or the material wouldn't reflect light in the same manner as natural skin.

Either way, the masks are made for cross-dressing cosplay weirdo's and not as a serious criminal counter-measure, but the concept could definitely be expanded upon by someone with both the means and the need for a multi-spectrally passable disguise AKA FedGov 3-letters' and their 'terrorist' proxies.

[Jacks Complete]

Silicone rubber is what these masks are made from. At close range, a good eye will spot the "wrongness" of it. However, with good make-up, you will find that they "pass" even close range. How many times have you worn a deeply offensive T-shirt, and not one person will even seem to notice it the whole day?

Most people don't notice a damned thing.

As regards IR, the emissivity of make-up over silicone or make-up over skin are going to be very much the same. Some make-up, such as foundation, will frequently be seen on large numbers of women. Anything like sunscreen with titanium dioxide in it will do weird things. Lipsticks are also likely to do odd things. And, the odds of a thermal camera being used in daylight, and hand-held, are about zero.

What I'm getting at is that it might be better to disguise yourself as a woman. Police looking for a gun man lugging a bag full of loot are hardly about to stop a woman pushing a pram. It would take about 60 seconds to pull a dress (with bits attached) over your head, and pull on a facemask with make-up and hair applied, drop the money bags in the pram, and walk on.

Even with a thermal camera system, during a time of crisis, the operators aren't going to zoom in on every person, they are going to be looking for a rough match to check more throughly.

[nbk2000]

For the disguise to work, the body must match.

Ever seen the movie Twins, with Arnold Schwarzenegger? He disguises himself as a woman to hide in a resort for pregnant women. Naturally, Ah-nold has to come up with some creative excuse to explain 'her' massive physique.

If you've got the body of a heavyweight boxer, forget it. Only if you would only be seen from the neck up could you pull it off.

Most womens makeup is invisible to normal IR, and I'd imagine TI as well.

With TI, a human face looks like this:
http://www.imaging1.com/gallery/images/human%20face%20frontal%20infrared%20thermal%20imag e.jpg

I'd imagine with a silicone mask covering and diffusing, that your disguised face would likely look rather bizarre to anyone monitoring a TI scanner.

[nbk2000]

"Driver's License Emerges as Crime-Fighting Tool, but Privacy Advocates Worry" New York Times (02/17/07); Liptak, Adam


As part of an experiment last year, three facial-recognition specialists in Massachusetts ran a photo from the Web site of America's Most Wanted against the state's database of 9 million digital driver's license photographs.

The mug shot closely resembled a driver's license photograph with a different name, and after alerting the authorities, the police were able to track down and arrest the suspect in New York City, where he was receiving welfare benefits under the alias on the driver's license.

At least six other states are developing or have already acquired similar driver's license databases which, when combined with facial-recognition technology, can be used as a powerful law enforcement tool.

Analysts use the technology to check about 5,000 new driver's license photographs every day using a computer algorithm to check about 8,000 facial points.

The computer is unable to make a perfect match and an analysis needs to check the narrowed field after the computer is finished, and the majority of computer matches are rejected.

Though DNA and fingerprint databases are better for placing a suspect at a crime scene, DNA samples and fingerprints are not collected from the public.

The majority of adults do have driver's licenses, and even though current technology requires a good-quality photo, the potential to link an unknown suspect to a name through their driver's license is promising.

Facial-recognition technology can be used to help prevent identity theft and to stop people from obtaining a second driver's license under a false name.

Obviously you're not going into the DMV wearing a silicone head, but not having a match for your drivers license (if you bother with such things) could keep you out of the pokey.

[nbk2000]

Facial prosthetics created by a former CIA disguise artist (so he claims)

http://prosthesis.com/face_base.htm

I'd say, given the quality of the work, he's real. :)

Wonder if he does work for people who still have faces?