Juggalo Make-up used to Outsmart Facial Recognition Software

It has been reported that computer science blogger, @tahkion, has revealed that makeup worn by fans of the Insane Clown Posse  – known as Juggalos or Juggalettes – makes it very difficult for facial recognition (FR) software to figure out the wearer’s identity.

Mayur Upadhyaya, MD, EMEA at Janrain, said: “In the identity industry, facial recognition (FR) on its own, wouldn't count as a strong form of authentication. Most systems would require a second factor, such as possession or knowledge (password), which would be something like the device you used being registered on the account.

"As such, there are known limitations of FR. The Juggalo discovery just highlights another limitation of automated FR, which relies on contrast levels.

"As @tahkion points out, this kind of facial obscurification would need to be either manually flagged or built into the FR system itself, which doesn't seem that feasible. So this is certainly a flaw that surveillance concerned citizens could exploit, if wearing clown paint wasn't an inhibitor to day-to-day life.”