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stego-tech12/09/20241 replyview on HN

Not a bad piece, all told, though the general practical advice hasn't really changed in the decade-plus since I last touched the stuff: stop looking up (in general), keep as much of your face obscured as practical, try mixing up patterns to make it difficult for algorithms to match you over time, know where cameras are and how to avoid them, and if you do have to enter a known surveillance area, exit it as quickly and discreetly as possible - and adjust outfits between surveillance areas if you're particularly paranoid.

That said, let me just help dash any hopes of fooling government surveillance right now. Any competent Nation State that has an axe to grind with you specifically, already has you in their dragnet. They already have enough information to match your face in grainy analog B&W surveillance footage from an ancient grocery store camera. You're not beating those short of significant cosmetic surgery or prosthetics of some sort, and even then, if they want you badly enough then they'll just pull partial prints off something you touched and validate that way.

Always remember the first rule of security: if someone really wants something you have badly enough, there's nothing you can do to stop them. With that in mind, plan accordingly. It's why I don't go to protests myself, or otherwise engage with events where I know facial recognition tech is deployed: I'm in that data set, multiple times, with pristine reference materials, simply by virtue of past work (not including the updates via passport photos or Global Entry access). My safest bet is simply not to put myself in that position in the first place, and that's likely yours as well.


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idronedronedron12/09/2024

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