How much mask...?

[Super Firebug]

An interesting question just occurred to me. In these days of camera surveillance (sometimes constant) and facial-recognition software, how much mask would a superhero need in order to keep the secret civilian identity a secret? Would Green Arrow's domino mask still suffice, for instance, or would he need more of a Batman-type cowl? Or, maybe, something more like the faceplate that Statesman wears?

[Vee]

Green arrow could have as big of a mask as you want and the van dyke would still give him away. He's the only person with a worse disguise than clark kent.

[Aggelakis]

Facial recognition these days is all about the bumps and curves of a face. Distort those (full cover or changing edges) and you're generally OK.

[blackjak]

http://io9.com/how-fashion-can-be-used-to-thwart-facial-recognition-te-1495648863
https://www.betabrand.com/mens-reflective-flashback-hoodie-jacket.html
People are already on it.

[Eoraptor]

The truth is that fiction media (and real cops and prosecutors) very drastically over-plays the power of facial recognition. It only works when you have two shots of a subject taken from the same angle, under the same lighting conditions, with the same amount of facial hair (or an alternative light source like infrared or radar that can look past facial hair) and so on.

This sort of perfect one-to-one comparison doesn't happen in the real world. Much in the same vein of "enhance that picture for me" doesn't actually happen in reality the way it does on CSI, "Run facial recognition" doesn't actually work in reality either, unless you're comparing two mugshots.

Even visual unlock facial recognition tools on computers, which rely on you always sitting in front of the computer, under the same lights, and in the same position, have as low as a fifty percent accuracy level, and can be fooled with as little as a cardboard cutout unless they are using differential cameras for comparison (IE 3d-shots)

While you can say certain things about a face mathematically, such as "the distance between the centers of the pupils never change;" the concept of using facial req as ID falls far short of the practice and is mostly a psychological fallacy; one of blurry photos and videos, smeared images and off-angles, and cases of "close but not quite" where you have enough points to make a match mathematically possible, but not enough points to guarantee that no other person on Earth, or even in the neighborhood, could have that combination of features.

The same is actually true of fingerprint identification (physical, not DNA) in that, if you're comparing two booking cards, it's possible to make a fairly definitive match, but if you're comparing a booking card to a singular smeared or poorly collected partial taken from a crime scene(the way most people imagine it being done), it's going to be nigh impossible to make a definitive link between the samples, and the best you can say is "it's within the range of possibility that these two are from the same person." with that range being anywhere from 1%-75%.

[blackjak]

The real question should be; "Why hasn't anyone close to them recognized their build, mannerisms, portions of exposed face/body or voice?".
Also, "Where are the paparazzi?" I bet there are a ton of people that can identify a Kardashian from the backside.

[Paragon Avenger]

Masks?  Aren't you forgetting about subcutaneously implanted RFID chips?
You so much as sneeze, and the feds will be right there with a hanky and a pair of hand-cuffs.

[ParagonLurker]

If you feel a bump on your arm, under your skin, it's probably a subcutaneously implanted RFID chip, or lipolma.
Either way, you're dead in a hundred years.

[hurple]

Green arrow could have as big of a mask as you want and the van dyke would still give him away. He's the only person with a worse disguise than clark kent.

Favorite issue of a comic ever was when Oliver Queen was on a passenger airplane, in flight.  Hijackers try to take control of the plane so Queen fakes being sick so they throw him in the bathroom. 

A few minutes later Green Arrow bursts out of the bathroom and confronts the hijackers, who respond with "How did he get here?"

What a hoot!!



 

[Vee]

they did the same thing with bats, supes, presumably more. hijacking was the biggest danger of the 70s and was only stopped when superheroes started putting fruit pies in their carry-on luggage.

oh and in one world's finest clark and bruce are on a space shuttle and supes/bats have to show up.

[microc]

best one is in the superman movie when he goes into the photo booth to change...take the film that comes out with him...what about the negative in the booth???

[Paragon Avenger]

Yeah, so masks?  Forget about it.  All you have to do is put on a pair of tights and put your underwear on the outside.  Your own mother won't recognize you.

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

Yeah, so masks?  Forget about it.  All you have to do is put on a pair of tights and put your underwear on the outside.  Your own mother won't recognize you.

Just so long as you don't wear the underwear inside out and expose the name tag she sewed into it.


More seriously facial recognition has improved a lot over the past several years, but still has a very high rate of misses and false positives. Really your best bet is to use the most accurate facial (and overall form) recognition system ever developed: another human being. Combined with the sheer amount pictures generated at any public altercation you'd probably want something closer to Deathstroke's getup to avoid being recognized if your civilian ID is at all known to the public.

[JanessaVR]

This is exactly the issue I raised (more than once) on the Dumpshock forums for the Shadowrun RPG.  If you're living in what is essentially a surveillance society (and you are), and the people doing the majority of that surveillance aren't friendly to you (even if you are just "one of the masses"), then how exactly to do you lead your exciting life of crime, without being flagged by the ever-present cameras and the police called the second you set foot outside your front door?

It was my contention that all shadowrunners either wore completely concealing face masks when "on the job," or else they were all caught by the police long ago.  Not everyone agreed with me, but I stand by my analysis of Earth 2073-ish in the Sixth Age.  For my part, I noted that when "on the job" my characters all wore totally concealing face masks that also incorporated a full seal with air filtration and voice distortion abilities as well (to avoid leaving a voiceprint, either); I also noted that they always wore gloves when "on the job" or even off the job whenever they were handling any of their equipment (then if you ever drop your guns/gear/etc there won't be any fingerprints on them).  I figured that without these minimal precautions at least, any shadowrunner would be quickly apprehended.

[Ironwolf]

Shadowrun had deckers who scrubbed that information.

Many runners had real life jobs on the edge of society. You forget an asset is not always yours alone. In many cases you would retaliate only as far as necessary to protect your interests. Many Corps would use the same runners tomorrow they were chasing today.

[JanessaVR]

Shadowrun had deckers who scrubbed that information.

Many runners had real life jobs on the edge of society. You forget an asset is not always yours alone. In many cases you would retaliate only as far as necessary to protect your interests. Many Corps would use the same runners tomorrow they were chasing today.

Deckers can't scrub everything everywhere.  And it only takes one mistake in missing something...  (And honestly, Technomancers run rings around Deckers anyway, especially if any of the optional Resonance rules are in effect.)

And yes, just because you were hired by Wuxing to sabotage Aztechnology this week, doesn't mean that Aztechnology won't be hiring you to sabotage Wuxing next week, but still, better safe than sorry I always figured.

[Felderburg]

Iron Man would set off facial recognition all the time: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/170947-hacking-the-ps4s-facial-recognition-by-creating-a-universal-login-key

[Paragon Avenger]

Iron Man would set off facial recognition all the time: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/170947-hacking-the-ps4s-facial-recognition-by-creating-a-universal-login-key

You might be missing the point.
When Iron Man is suited up, you can't tell his real identity.
But, some of these other heroes wear costumes that do nothing to protect the wearer's real identity.

So, yeah, facial recognition would alert the authorities that Iron Man was present, (like the red and gold rocket suit won't), but nobody would know that Iron Man is Tony Stark.  Except he did calm it already.
So, I guess the answer is no mask!

[Felderburg]

You might be missing the point.

I was really just sharing an interesting article that had facial recognition and superheroes together 

[Paragon Avenger]

I was really just sharing an interesting article that had facial recognition and superheroes together 

Oh, in that case, good article.