Live data from Hacker News

Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

beccaricks.space

71–80 of 105 posts

Re: Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. It's similar to people who count on crypto to solve government interference in finance. You can't solve a culture of pervasive government surveillance by inventing new tech, because that tech will just be outlawed or regulated to death (see the UK online safety bill). You have to change the culture that makes governments think they have the right to see everything.

> You can't solve a culture of pervasive government surveillance by inventing new tech, because that tech will just be outlawed or regulated to death I call bs. New regulation moves slower that the rate at which people can find workarounds

Regulation can be made very broad and up to interpretation by judges though.

You could setup something like "Circumvention of facial recognition using dedicated technical devices at demonstrations is considered disguising at a demonstration and follows the same laws" in germany.

And sure, this would result in a lot of lawsuits, discussions, escalations through different courts while the regulation is being tested - and it might be struck down entirely - but it would stand for a while and strike down _all_ workarounds.

Re: Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

#72
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's near red infrared. It's like saying that blasting red light to your face, will have health consequences.

That is simply not true. For example: There are, in fact, known risks to near-infrared radiation exposure. Erythema ab igne, for example, is a disorder characterized by a patchy discoloration of the skin and other clinical symptoms. It is caused by prolonged exposure to hearth fires, and it is an occupational hazard of glass blowers and bakers exposed to furnaces and hot ovens (e.g., Tsai and Hamblin 2017). It is not…

There's a huge difference between shining a few 30mA IR diodes in your face versus working all day in front of an open furnace.

Re: Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This exists, we call it "gravel"

I can imagine paranoid HN users filling their shoes with gravel to avoid big tech surveillance

"I'm (ow!) sticking it (oh!) to the (ow!) man!"

Re: Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

#75
post #7

Similar approaches for license plate concealment aren't working out. Newer systems flag vehicles without plates for additional attention. Some recognize make, model, color, accessories, etc.[1][2] [1] https://platerecognizer.com/alpr-for-vehicles-without-licens... [2] https://www.dahuasecurity.com/asset/upload/uploads/soft/2021...

People who obscure their license plates should have their cars impounded and licenses revoked. If you don't think traffic enforcement applies to you, you're welcome to use transit, walk or bike.

> People who obscure their license plates should have their cars impounded and licenses revoked

People pay tax on the fuel, pay tax on the car, pay tax on the parts and servicing, yet you want the state to be able to identify the vehicles?

How many deaths and injuries do the vehicles cause in comparison to other deaths and injuries? Take the NRA and shooter deaths and injuries, or even knife crime, those people dont have to walk around with identification tattoos, and anyone can get a uniform to impersonate people of authority.

The state employees, namely the Police give you all the privacy you can afford, you wont find this online, but I've been reliably told, that the 13/14yr old son of this bloke [1], took one of the family limousines and crashed it in Kent, UK. When the Police attending the RTA realised who he was, the UK Police gave him an hour or two to clear up the mess or face being arrested. Naturally someone this rich can pull strings, so the mess was cleared up and now nothing exists online.

I dont think most people realise how life is crime free for the rich who donate to charitable causes and employ large numbers of people!

So why do we need our privacy stolen especially considering mobile phones can triangulate and locate people under the guise of cell tower traffic management and most cars now have trackers built into them to remote shut them down called telematics, also used to monitor the driving of the insured and car manufacturers[2] are proposing vehicles that can even reposses themselves.

You can learn alot from this [3] if Hollywood isnt trolling the poor whilst virtual signalling for profits!

Now watch how quickly this discussion gets pushed down onto subsequent pages of HN to protect the Rich! Position 11 @ 10:38 UTC 20230228.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Maktoum#Controversy [2] https://www.thedrive.com/news/future-fords-could-repossess-t...

[3] https://youtu.be/wXf_eaQcSdM?t=51

Re: Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

#76
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is simply not true. For example: There are, in fact, known risks to near-infrared radiation exposure. Erythema ab igne, for example, is a disorder characterized by a patchy discoloration of the skin and other clinical symptoms. It is caused by prolonged exposure to hearth fires, and it is an occupational hazard of glass blowers and bakers exposed to furnaces and hot ovens (e.g., Tsai and Hamblin 2017). It is not…

There's a huge difference between shining a few 30mA IR diodes in your face versus working all day in front of an open furnace.

I never said it is the same as open furnace. I just said that there is a distinct lack of health considerations around this idea. And your commend really underlines my statement. I mean, IR is not visible and if I can't see it, it can't hurt me, right? :-D

But seriously: She has 22 IR LEDs. Let's say 50mW each and you have over 1W of illumination in there. If you wore it while outside/at work, it could easily add up to 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. That's really not "nothing", even though the immediate intensity is not comparable to furnace, the overall dosage very well might be...

Re: Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

#77
post #7

Similar approaches for license plate concealment aren't working out. Newer systems flag vehicles without plates for additional attention. Some recognize make, model, color, accessories, etc.[1][2] [1] https://platerecognizer.com/alpr-for-vehicles-without-licens... [2] https://www.dahuasecurity.com/asset/upload/uploads/soft/2021...

People who obscure their license plates should have their cars impounded and licenses revoked. If you don't think traffic enforcement applies to you, you're welcome to use transit, walk or bike.

Maybe people don’t want their movement tracked and stored in a database. Any officer can clock their speed with a radar gun or give them a ticket for violating any of the hundreds of laws in the motor vehicle code, so I don’t think someone that obscures their license plate is of the impression that they’re above traffic enforcement.

Re: Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This exists, we call it "gravel"

I can imagine paranoid HN users filling their shoes with gravel to avoid big tech surveillance

For the more extreme option, lego bricks.

Re: Unidentified Halo, an anti-surveillance wearable project

#80
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or sufficient adoption will make governments adopt a quite cheap (and even potentially profitable) solution: make obfuscation through such means illegal and subject to fine. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a liberal reading of existing laws in many US states might over this already.

It is illegal for license plates in some places. But I cannot see a free country doing that for people walking or even people inside vehicals.

Well I don't know if you would consider France a free country or not, but it is illegal to hide your face in public space in France (unless it's for medical reasons or for a special event and so on). So I guess hiding your face from the face recognition system would be also illegal.

https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F21613

Post reply on HN