Increasingly, computers can detect and recognize faces.

From "smile shutter" features built into digital cameras, to age-testing cigarette vending machines in Japan, to Amazon's new security camera system for its warehouses, companies are using face detection and face recognition technologies.

According to designer Adam Harvey:

One day, instead of asking me how I'm feeling, you'll ask your camera. It will look at my features, compare me to other people and decide that I'm working on a thesis, in need of sleep and desperately need to get some sunshine. You'll be able to link this image to my online social network profiles and semantically analyze my status updates and online activity to confirm your results or maybe look at my online calendar to see what I'm doing next.

Adam's thesis project, CV Dazzle, explores techniques for hiding from face detection technologies. It's based in part on a First World War-era camouflage called Dazzle.

Today, Nora interviewed Adam about CV Dazzle. A shorter version of this interview will air on an upcoming episode of Spark, but you can hear the full, uncut interview if you download the MP3. [runs 15:40]

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