Glasses protect users from facial recognition

The glasses have lenses that can absorb infrared light, preventing facial recognition systems from capturing an accurate image

Spotted: Facial recognition is no longer just for spies and secret labs. It is being used for everything from monitoring classrooms to airport security. Now, for those who do not want their every move tracked and recorded, Chicago-based eyewear designer Scott Urban has developed glasses that can block facial recognition systems.

Most facial recognition systems, such as night-vision CCTV cameras, use infrared light to capture images of your face and the shape of your eyes. Urban’s glasses have lenses that can absorb infrared light, preventing facial recognition systems from capturing an accurate image. 

Urban’s first privacy glasses, the Ghost sunglasses, were made with reflective material that appears as a blur of white light in night-vision cameras and flash-photography. However, he recently designed IRPair and Phantom, which look like an ordinary pair of sunglasses. The glasses have an acetate frame and work both indoors and out. 

In addition to providing privacy, the glasses also block ultraviolet light and visible blue light, which helps prevent fatigue when working in front of a screen and enhances depth perception. The glasses are also available as a clip-on and range from €43 to €147 and plan to ship in 2020.

Springwise has recently covered a number of innovations aimed at providing and improving facial recognition. These include preventing accidents and helping the blind to recognise people. However, Urban’s glasses are some of the first aimed at preventing facial recognition.