Imagine walking down the street and being stopped by a stranger that knows your name, what you like, and where you live. Two Harvard University students have done just this using modified Ray-Ban Meta glasses and AI.
The video of their project, called I-XRAY, is an example of how users can misuse smart glasses to threaten individual privacy.
The underlying problem is that they use technology available to everyone, such as commercial glasses and public databases.
Glasses and AI to Speed Up the Process
As you can see in the video compiled by 404Media, the user wears the glasses to record on the street. The device sends the video live to Instagram via streaming. A computer analyzes the footage and uses AI to identify the faces. The system then sends these images to public databases to obtain the names and addresses of the protagonists. The information, obtained quickly, arrives directly to the smartphone of the person wearing the glasses.
Click to watch the video.
The two students who developed the project, AnhPhy Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio, recorded several classmates and obtained personal information in real-time.
That’s in the first half of the video. Then, Nguyen and Ardayfio take public transportation and do the same with two users they’ve just met.
Live public facial recognition is prohibited, but this is an example of how live doxing is possible with current technology. Doxing is the act of collecting and publishing someone’s personal information without their consent with the intent to harm them. While doxing isn’t flat-out illegal in the U.S., there are some situations where it can be a crime. Authorities can consider doxing to be a form of harassment, stalking, or intimidation, which are regulated by the law.
To carry out this project, the students used the newest generation of Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, which they explain are indistinguishable from normal glasses. They also implemented four facial recognition and AI technologies: reverse facial recognition, an AI to organize information, Fast People Search to find addresses, and Cloaked to obtain personal information from social security numbers. Cloaked takes advantage of previous data leaks and hacks to generate information.
We Need to Talk
As the authors explain, their intention wasn’t to attack privacy but to warn of how easily anyone can violate it.
Meta’s privacy policy with Ray-Ban glasses completely prohibits these practices. It even adds a visible LED to alert users if others wearing these glasses are recording them. The company also keeps recordings to identify a perpetrator easily in case of a complaint.
The glasses haven’t yet achieved mass popularity. But if they do, it’s easy to imagine how their potential uses and modifications could become an issue.
The debate over facial recognition has been going on for years, and these students remind us that it’s becoming increasingly necessary.
Image | Xataka On
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