This is not a SFW instance. NSFW communities will be tagged, and efforts will be made to keep SFW communities clean, but proceed at your own comfort level.
Hong Kong protesters started using camouflage to stay anonymous after police started using facial recognition camera’s: it turns out, it is only useful if you can also hide your camouflage. They needed to be able to blend in to avoid being caught. The idea seems great, but even if this would be done for real it would not be good enough unfortunately.
The problem is…then what? Are you going to walk from your front door to the flock camera, all in full black clothing and face coverings? You’re going to have to walk past any closed-circuit security and Ring doorbell cameras. Police can follow you through multiple cameras and maybe even see you walking through your front door.
Are you going to drive a few blocks from the camera, park, and then walk to it? They can search vehicle position records for any vehicles that came and left within a certain distance from the cameras within a certain time period. If they can trace you walking to your car, they can find you. Even if you left your phone at home and use an old vehicle without spytech in it, there will still be video of your vehicle in the area.
Flock cameras are probably the single most capable cameras police departments have regular access to. But they have access to countless tools of surveillance. I think the only way you could reliably damage a flock camera and get away with it is if a Flock camera is near some nature area or other natural feature. For example, if there’s a forest area a short distance from where the camera is, or a stretch of tree-covered river or creek you could duck into to break the camera track.
In order to destroy a flock camera and get away with it, you would need to have access to some large area that is not under surveillance. This allows you to walk into the area while in plain clothes, change into concealed clothing while in the area, and the reverse on the return trip.
Destroying a flock camera while keeping your face covered is trivial. The hard part is getting to the camera and getting back home without leaving a trail to your identity. And unless there’s a big nature area nearby you can disappear into, I think that would be a challenge.
Notably, this is actually the technique Luigi used. He ducked into a wooded park to change clothes and escape the surveillance net. With enough resources they were still able to catch him. But someone destroying a flock camera won’t justify as much resources to hunt them down as what Luigi did.
In the fantasy land where they’re as capable as their fascist tools, and the tools themselves are as good as they advertise.
There are already dozens to hundreds of people getting away with the destruction of Flock cameras. They literally ask for public tips to solve them.
Have you read the research on the actual impact of all this bullshit on crime rate solving?
The panopticon is not finished.
Until it is, large swaths of your comment might as well be fiction, because until it’s trivial to “justify as much resources to hunt them down as what Luigi did” for the average use, they literally can barely find their ass with them.
For some cameras in stores hiding IR LEDs on your person aimed out (eg sewn into a collar or hat facing forward) will disrupt the facial scanning but many have gotten wise to this and added ir filters. Even if they are susceptible it’ll make you a big white blob which easily makes you stand out so they can manually review footage and look for any moment the led failed, you didn’t wear it, you getting into a car with a license plate that’s read by an alpr, they just come grab you if seeing it live, etc
Nothing beats the combo of hat/mask/sunglasses though. Though some sunglasses are transparent to certain cameras, and others like vaydr claim to have an extra layer beyond ir blocking (but don’t explain how it works, really, bc “proprietary”)
The fact that old school tactics still work makes me wonder why nobody tries false noses, fake contacts, and other stuff costume designers are good at. There’s an awful lot you can do to disguise yourself besides just the hat/mask/sunglasses.
If you’re just trying to avoid regular everyday tracking, those may work. But if you’re trying to actually get away with a crime, the problem is that you’re trying to avoid every camera in a city, not just the flock camera you’re vandalizing. Your neighbor across the street could have a ring doorbell that records you every time you walk out your front door. You can have the most elaborate disguise you want, but if there’s video of you walking out your door wearing it, you’re busted.
Though some sunglasses are transparent to certain cameras, and others like vaydr claim to have an extra layer beyond ir blocking (but don’t explain how it works, really, bc “proprietary”)
Zenni claims to have a coating that blocks facial recognition even on regular non-tinted glasses. I sprung for the option when I got new glasses, but I haven’t tried to test if it actually works yet. (Obviously, it won’t do anything on systems that work only in the visible spectrum, but better than nothing?)
Benn Jordan did this with license plate readers. The stickers were invisible to casual observation, but the cameras couldn’t reliably decode anything from them.
Jup, people need to read up on adversarial training. I’ve seen examples of lightly sprinkled noise over pictures that completely breaks any object recognition and you wouldn’t see any difference in the picture with a human eye.
What’s is your point about HK? Why always point directly at China?
What about the Gestapo you call ICE with their face masks? What about flock cameras in the US being used to track ex wives or girlfriends?
Hong Kong protesters started using camouflage to stay anonymous after police started using facial recognition camera’s: it turns out, it is only useful if you can also hide your camouflage. They needed to be able to blend in to avoid being caught. The idea seems great, but even if this would be done for real it would not be good enough unfortunately.
Once heard a cop telling a story of the most petty criminal they apprehended.
A school teacher with no criminal record decide to break into a random gardening store in the middle of the night.
Was unable to find money, and then decided to steal sacks of potting dirt…
Got caught on the home after passing the cop on patrol. They didn’t know about the theft but the guy had covered his license plate…
Only commit a single crime at once. Have a body in the car? Make sure all of your taillights are working.
I’ll keep that in mind and let you know how it goes
I’ve always heard it as “only break one law at a time.”
The saddest part of this story is how a school teacher felt he needed to turn to burglary in order to make up for being underpaid…
I was always told “one crime at a time”.
Dress in black so you blend in with the spraypaint covering the camera lens.
The problem is…then what? Are you going to walk from your front door to the flock camera, all in full black clothing and face coverings? You’re going to have to walk past any closed-circuit security and Ring doorbell cameras. Police can follow you through multiple cameras and maybe even see you walking through your front door.
Are you going to drive a few blocks from the camera, park, and then walk to it? They can search vehicle position records for any vehicles that came and left within a certain distance from the cameras within a certain time period. If they can trace you walking to your car, they can find you. Even if you left your phone at home and use an old vehicle without spytech in it, there will still be video of your vehicle in the area.
Flock cameras are probably the single most capable cameras police departments have regular access to. But they have access to countless tools of surveillance. I think the only way you could reliably damage a flock camera and get away with it is if a Flock camera is near some nature area or other natural feature. For example, if there’s a forest area a short distance from where the camera is, or a stretch of tree-covered river or creek you could duck into to break the camera track.
In order to destroy a flock camera and get away with it, you would need to have access to some large area that is not under surveillance. This allows you to walk into the area while in plain clothes, change into concealed clothing while in the area, and the reverse on the return trip.
Destroying a flock camera while keeping your face covered is trivial. The hard part is getting to the camera and getting back home without leaving a trail to your identity. And unless there’s a big nature area nearby you can disappear into, I think that would be a challenge.
Notably, this is actually the technique Luigi used. He ducked into a wooded park to change clothes and escape the surveillance net. With enough resources they were still able to catch him. But someone destroying a flock camera won’t justify as much resources to hunt them down as what Luigi did.
They, could do all of those things, in theory.
In the fantasy land where they’re as capable as their fascist tools, and the tools themselves are as good as they advertise.
There are already dozens to hundreds of people getting away with the destruction of Flock cameras. They literally ask for public tips to solve them.
Have you read the research on the actual impact of all this bullshit on crime rate solving?
The panopticon is not finished.
Until it is, large swaths of your comment might as well be fiction, because until it’s trivial to “justify as much resources to hunt them down as what Luigi did” for the average use, they literally can barely find their ass with them.
It was a joke, I think you skipped over the second half of the sentence.
Hmm. That does appear to be the case! 😂
For some cameras in stores hiding IR LEDs on your person aimed out (eg sewn into a collar or hat facing forward) will disrupt the facial scanning but many have gotten wise to this and added ir filters. Even if they are susceptible it’ll make you a big white blob which easily makes you stand out so they can manually review footage and look for any moment the led failed, you didn’t wear it, you getting into a car with a license plate that’s read by an alpr, they just come grab you if seeing it live, etc
Nothing beats the combo of hat/mask/sunglasses though. Though some sunglasses are transparent to certain cameras, and others like vaydr claim to have an extra layer beyond ir blocking (but don’t explain how it works, really, bc “proprietary”)
The fact that old school tactics still work makes me wonder why nobody tries false noses, fake contacts, and other stuff costume designers are good at. There’s an awful lot you can do to disguise yourself besides just the hat/mask/sunglasses.
Prosthetic fingers, footage is obviously ai manipulated
If you’re just trying to avoid regular everyday tracking, those may work. But if you’re trying to actually get away with a crime, the problem is that you’re trying to avoid every camera in a city, not just the flock camera you’re vandalizing. Your neighbor across the street could have a ring doorbell that records you every time you walk out your front door. You can have the most elaborate disguise you want, but if there’s video of you walking out your door wearing it, you’re busted.
And something to change your gait, like one shoe with a small lift.
Zenni claims to have a coating that blocks facial recognition even on regular non-tinted glasses. I sprung for the option when I got new glasses, but I haven’t tried to test if it actually works yet. (Obviously, it won’t do anything on systems that work only in the visible spectrum, but better than nothing?)
Apparently clown makeup, specifically Juggalo makeup, used to be good at confusing facial recognition.
Benn Jordan did this with license plate readers. The stickers were invisible to casual observation, but the cameras couldn’t reliably decode anything from them.
I think it used bits of IR vinyl.
Is IR reflective makeup a thing?
I assume it can be done. IR reflective ink has been a part of spycraft for a while.
Looks to not be. IR reflective sunscreens and foundations would probably sell fairly well
IR doesn’t hurt your skin like UV, but it would keep you cooler I think.
its probably possible to have inconspicuous patterns that get interpreted in same way as clear picture
Jup, people need to read up on adversarial training. I’ve seen examples of lightly sprinkled noise over pictures that completely breaks any object recognition and you wouldn’t see any difference in the picture with a human eye.
I think if you have access to the digital content it is much easier to trick the machines, here is a cool example of that: https://www.dezeen.com/2026/07/31/decoy-font-ai-mixfont/
Hardest is when you don’t and don’t even know what the data is exactly, how much footage there is of you, where camera’s are etc.
What’s is your point about HK? Why always point directly at China? What about the Gestapo you call ICE with their face masks? What about flock cameras in the US being used to track ex wives or girlfriends?