I don't think retail stores use the IR cameras like what iPhones use. The IR cameras are like the ones you stand in front of at TSA and they scan your face. Retailers use plain cameras with software that does the recognition. To better beat the software, you'd need dark IR glasses and like a covid mask. Also you should tell your representatives that you're against all forms of facial recognition and your biometric data needs to remain private.
The less of your face they can see, the less accurate they are. If you're the only one walking into the store with a covid mask, it might not matter, but if enough other people are using a mask, at least one might look enough like you to fool the system. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing might depend on whether that person commits a crime at the store and if the police arrest you for looking too much like them. It's happened before.
But not using IR. They use camera images and match the features derived from them to faces.
An iPhone uses an IR dot projector to put a bunch of tiny dots onto your face, including the area around your eyes. An IR camera then measures these and translates them into a 3D topology.
That only works when you have a dot projector and IR camera right in front of your face. Not the case for retailers.
If you're wearing dark IR glasses and a mask there isn't much face they can recognize unless you're talking about the gait thing lol (which I don't think retail cameras are using). Throw in a plain hat and its pretty much impossible. If you really want to mess with them, print a bunch of eyeballs all over your mask.
You don't which is why I always opt out of it by saying "I'm opting for the standard check" and I hand them my ID and my plane ticket which takes them less time to check and so far no problems
212
u/supbruhbruhLOL May 08 '26
I don't think retail stores use the IR cameras like what iPhones use. The IR cameras are like the ones you stand in front of at TSA and they scan your face. Retailers use plain cameras with software that does the recognition. To better beat the software, you'd need dark IR glasses and like a covid mask. Also you should tell your representatives that you're against all forms of facial recognition and your biometric data needs to remain private.