SoK: Anti-Facial Recognition Technology
This work addresses privacy and civil liberties concerns for individuals affected by facial recognition technology, but it is incremental as it synthesizes existing research rather than introducing new methods.
The paper tackles the problem of analyzing the diverse and evolving anti-facial recognition (AFR) tools developed in response to privacy concerns from facial recognition technology, providing the first comprehensive analysis of the AFR research landscape and proposing a systematic framework for evaluating different approaches.
The rapid adoption of facial recognition (FR) technology by both government and commercial entities in recent years has raised concerns about civil liberties and privacy. In response, a broad suite of so-called "anti-facial recognition" (AFR) tools has been developed to help users avoid unwanted facial recognition. The set of AFR tools proposed in the last few years is wide-ranging and rapidly evolving, necessitating a step back to consider the broader design space of AFR systems and long-term challenges. This paper aims to fill that gap and provides the first comprehensive analysis of the AFR research landscape. Using the operational stages of FR systems as a starting point, we create a systematic framework for analyzing the benefits and tradeoffs of different AFR approaches. We then consider both technical and social challenges facing AFR tools and propose directions for future research in this field.