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Garments from Adversarial Fashion feed junk data into surveillance cameras, in an effort to make their databases less effective.
The news: Hacker and designer Kate Rose unveiled the new range of clothing at the DefCon cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. In a talk, she explained the that hoodies, shirts, dresses, and skirts trigger automated license plate readers (ALPRs) to inject useless data into systems used to track civilians.
False tags: The license-plate-like designs on a garment are picked up and recorded as vehicles by readers, which frequently misclassify images like fences as license plates anyway, according to Rose (pictured above modeling one of her dresses). The idea is that feeding more junk data into the systems will make them less effective at tracking people and more expensive to deploy.
[...] Fashion fights back: Though it's the first to target ALPRs, this isn't the first fashion project aimed at fighting back against surveillance. Researchers have come up with adversarial images on clothing aimed at bamboozling AI, makeup that lets you hide your face from recognition systems, and even a hat that can trick systems into thinking you're Moby.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Sunday August 18 2019, @03:40PM (5 children)
Do they have one with NULL or other potentially DB futzing combinations? :P
More importantly, do they vary the numbers on different outfits? Otherwise systems could quickly block specific outfits.
Are any of the numbers from specific vehicles? (What is Donald Trump's license plate? :P )
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:03PM
Why it's TRUMP of course. Or didn't you already notice that this pathological narcissist has to put his name on virtually everything (even buildings he doesn't even own) ?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:05PM
(What is Donald Trump's license plate? :P )
Do you really have to ask?
It's "MAGA" on the MBZ
It's "YOURE FIRED" on the BMW
It's "CLINTON 2020" on the Yugo
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:57PM
I'm pretty sure you can find a Bobby; Drop Table shirt on the internet.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Shire on Sunday August 18 2019, @08:50PM (1 child)
Relevant:
https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-landed-one-hacker-ticket-hell [wired.com]
tl;dr - Guy registers a plate called "NULL" and proceeds to receive every ticket issued where the plate number is unknown.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @09:48PM
Really? Unbelievable!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:04PM (4 children)
How about an LCD display front vanity plate that cycles through various images of apparently valid looking plates
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:16PM (3 children)
It'll go over as well as selling "how to beat the polygraph" books.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 18 2019, @06:32PM (2 children)
I was just thinking - if you're going full Bond gadget, the whole body adaptive camouflage might not make a car convincingly invisible, but it certainly could present a confounding array of word salad...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @11:36PM (1 child)
I wonder what a car-wrap of assorted tag numbers would do to a plate reader?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @01:01AM
It might do a lot to a plate reader.
But it will also have cops pulling you over just so they can find an excuse to shoot you.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:09PM (7 children)
You know those shirts with the light up 'art' in them?
How about one with a license plate with 7 segment displays showing random plates?
Better yet, do this with a blue tooth connection. Stream a list of the plates of journalists, three letter agency employees, plate reader company employees, court and police station employees, etc. (aka, make it a pain for folks involved or who can raise a stink while you're doing your civil disobedience)
I guess you could plate scan the cars in the employee parking lots of courts and police stations for a start. Hmm...
(Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 18 2019, @06:48PM (6 children)
I'm thinking of civil disobedients who run their own plate scanners, streaming realtime to other civil disobedients who are 10-200 miles away, fuzzing the database in a way that's difficult to filter.
If you're just putting the Fed's plate numbers all over the place, they're already on the "green list" and ignored by the fishing expeditions.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday August 19 2019, @05:08AM (5 children)
How about a network of license plate readers updating a public website with the current location of politician's cars in real time?
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday August 19 2019, @02:38PM (4 children)
I have to imagine they have thought of this and already made it illegal. "What is citizens start tracking US? Better stop that right now."
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday August 20 2019, @01:36AM (3 children)
It's all public domain - if politicians want to show their faces in public, we can see that and: freedom of speech... If we happen to see that face get into a car with a visible license plate...
At this point, an old disused smartphone has the hardware and power to run a networked plate scanner, just stick it on the back of a flipped down sun visor and you're part of the network.
Next up: federal politicians give themselves permission to drive around in anonymous vehicles.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday August 21 2019, @02:48PM (2 children)
Do any senators actually drive their own cars? I assumed each has private drivers from a federally paid for pool.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:48PM (1 child)
I think you're right about the motor pool, although that's a very different way to be tracked...
At one time not long ago (according to a friend who lived in DC), several senators would walk to work at the capitol and occasionally get mugged on the way...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday August 22 2019, @05:47PM
Well, I know President Grant got a speeding ticket... on his horse.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:09PM (11 children)
Why not have a T-Shirt with a fake face on it so that the face recognition software can pick up on the fake face which will put more junk into the system. We can use that fake face generator website or whatever to generate fake faces and print them on t-shirts. Then the automated system will think everyone is two-faced. Or if you cover up your real face it may think the printed face is your face.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:15PM (5 children)
More advanced face recog tech uses an invisible IR grid projector to determine 3D features of the face or of the whole body, 2D pictures will be of no use as a mimicry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:21PM (4 children)
Sure but the whole point is to increase the cost of getting it right. It will force those using these systems to get the 'more advanced' ones and pay more.
Also the body has curvature as well. Sure you and I may know the difference but if the computer can't tell the difference between a fence and a license plate then it probably can't tell the difference here either.
I wonder if the computer thinks the license plate number of the fence is IIIII. On the flip side if my license plate number was IIII maybe the reader will think it's a fence.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:30PM (3 children)
Disney Granted Patent in Foot Recognition [soylentnews.org]
China Can Apparently Now Identify Citizens Based on the Way they Walk [soylentnews.org]
Identifying Perceived Emotions From People's Walking Style [soylentnews.org]
Just delaying the inevitable. You are full of leaky data ready to be edge computed until the kill/capture order is sent.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:37PM (1 child)
Better late than early?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @06:51AM
Better never than late
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @01:38PM
Mass surveillance of all kinds simply needs to be banned, whether done by corporations or governments.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @05:16PM (3 children)
Will this T-shirt do?
https://www.thechestore.com/products/che-guevara-long-sleeve-t-shirt-sleeve-star?variant=41605235724 [thechestore.com]
Or this one with ID,
https://www.amazon.com/Elvis-Presley-Shirt-Exclusive-Stickers/dp/B076ZWHDY7 [amazon.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @06:28PM (1 child)
Fidel’s Legacy to the World on Theory and Practice [blackagendareport.com]
Che Guevara: 50 years after his death [socialist.net] (IMT)
50 years since the murder of Che Guevara [wsws.org] (ICFI)
Che Guevara: Introduction [socialistalternative.org] (CWI)
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday August 19 2019, @03:24AM
Is it that you envision yourself in charge, or do you too enjoy shooting kids in the back of the head?
http://www.therealcuba.com/?page_id=55 [therealcuba.com]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Monday August 19 2019, @12:53AM
There's a whole storefront for Che t-shirts?
How do they find enough college freshmen buyers to keep them in business??
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday August 18 2019, @09:53PM
How about one that makes you invisible to AI? [theverge.com]
(won't last long, but anyway)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @04:47PM (13 children)
That only works if every single shirt is different. Otherwise it is one simple filter and a small story is fixed. If they are all different. Oh no more filters.... If they bother to do it.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @05:34PM (3 children)
You mean like comment filters that won't let you post about Dick Niggers only fucking the young pussy.
Yeaah. Dick Niggers.
We never fuck no old pussy.
We fuck a whole lotta young pussy.
Ain't no license plate dresses gonna distract us from the pussy.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 18 2019, @05:39PM (2 children)
A hot lesbian who can write "Hello World" in Python and is claiming to be a "nerd hacker" tells male sex-starved geeks, "I'm hot, buy my shit." Film at 11.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @06:23PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @11:20PM
Nice!
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday August 18 2019, @05:34PM (8 children)
1. print and distribute 1,000 shirts with your company logo and plate on it
2. wait a bit for your plate to be filtered out
3. drive like hell, park anywhere, you're invisible!
Could work for a courier company.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 18 2019, @05:37PM (4 children)
I always had fantasies about just having a motorized plate shield or something that can flip back and forth between a fake out of state plate and a legit plate. Fortunately they took down the red light cameras on my way to work and I don't give a fuck about other plate readers because I am a law-abiding citizen.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday August 18 2019, @06:22PM (1 child)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @06:38PM
You may not know it but they usually just corral you. They will catch if they can. But usually they are just trying to make sure you do not splatter anyone else. Then when you eventually hurt yourself they have a new organ donor. Then some paperwork. Then go have a coffee and talk about what a lunatic you are with their buds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @01:42PM (1 child)
The government doesn't care if you're a law-abiding citizen. Example: Asset forfeiture, where the government simply steals your money and property without due process.
Authoritarian governments, which to some degree or another is all of them, will find ways to destroy you if they wish to do so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @02:47PM
Also, wtf is a law abiding citizen? The laws are intentionally so complicated that everyone is guilty of something. If you step out of line, they will bring up charges.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @06:32PM (2 children)
Or end up with all the tickets.
Or the license plate group just revokes your plate and fines you.
OR you end up with a lawsuit in front of a judge trying to explain your behavior.
Or you get pulled over by a cop and they just arrest you for driving 'like hell'.
Or add they add another filter, speed > 20MPH. Or sizeOfObject > 5meters.
We as computer people like to have some fantasy where the outside world stays static and we are the flexible ones who can nimbly work around the man. The 'man' usually has a much more simple way to take care of people https://xkcd.com/538/ [xkcd.com] That works for about 2 seconds as the people writing the filters and laws get a good chuckle then get a new filter/law just for you.
(Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Sunday August 18 2019, @07:18PM (1 child)
I'm not going to defend his particular idea, but, in general, it is possible to work around "the man". In high school, I used a proxy to get around content filters that were blocking email sites etc. Could they have adapted? Yeah, but they didn't even know, so they didn't. Even in China, it's quite possible to get around the Great Firewall, and, although the government does adapt, it adapts slowly, and is not nearly as nimble as the people circumventing them. A lot of debt collection agencies are just now catching on to debtors putting their spare cash into prepaid gift cards to avoid bank garnishments.
You can be nimble, and, although The Man isn't static, he is much slower than you can be. That's not a fantasy: it's true.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @07:50AM
Being cynical here, it's currently possible for technically clued people to circumvent things like the Great Firewall as that's what the leadership want...a 'relief valve' and a way of compiling a nice list of refusenik candidates who use it for future recruitment, re-education or removal.
The man, especially in China, is playing the long game..multiple long games..he might be apparently slow to adapt, but there's a saying about rope, and the results of giving enough of the stuff...when it comes down to it, the man doesn't have to be technologically 'nimble' to deal with perceived internal threats when he has the police, army and vast territories for those threats to be 'disappeared' unto if they become too 'troublesome'.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @06:05PM
If only there were open source clothes, you could download clothing patterns and make your own clothes, on your own sewing machine at home.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @09:12PM
"ugly T-shirt" from Zero History
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Sunday August 18 2019, @09:48PM (2 children)
Authorities might try to ban these clothes. It's the sort of stupid thing they're prone to doing, as most high school students experience.
Remember the idiotic export controls on encryption technology? We had 2 versions of Netscape, the export one with encryption keys of only 40 bits, and the domestic one with 128 bit keys.
(Score: 2) by Acabatag on Monday August 19 2019, @12:58AM
Yes, and you could be all edgy if you wanted and upload the 128-bit version to an offshore FTP site.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @01:49PM
Much like anti-mask laws exist, even though they're a complete violation of the first amendment. With mass surveillance becoming more and more of a threat, burkas are starting to look like a good idea for everyone.
(Score: 2) by Username on Sunday August 18 2019, @11:08PM
This will only work if your plate number is on the shirts.
(Score: 2) by DavePolaschek on Monday August 19 2019, @12:27AM
Sizes only go up to 2XL, alas.