Glasses might be helpful for improved vision, but a new type are being tested that allow wearers to be invisible in unwanted photographs. Invisibility Glasses by AVG, a software security company, were designed in a bid to help protect people's online identities in the digital age. With the increased use of cell phone cameras in public, the glasses makes it difficult to capture a person's identity in facial recognition software, for example the kind used on Facebook. Invisibility Glasses by AVG, a software security company, were created in a bid to help protect people's online identities in the digital age. With the increased use of cell phone cameras in public, the glasses make it difficult to capture a person's identity in facial recognition software, for example the kind used on Facebook . The glasses, through the use of infrared light and retro-reflective materials, blocks attempts to get a clear facial capture of the wearer, developers claim . The wearable technology, which does not hide the rest of the person's body, debuted on Sunday at technology showcase Pepcom in Barcelona, according to Gizmodo. The developers of the privacy glasses, AVG Innovation Labs, said that with the advancement in facial recognition technologies like Facebook's DeepFace system, they began investigating how technology can be used when it comes to securing online privacy. DeepFace will be able to determine whether two captured faces are of the same person with 97.25 per cent accuracy. And this coupled with other advancements left developers questioning how to combat privacy. The glasses, through the use of infrared LED light and retro-reflective materials, block a clear facial capture of the wearer, developers claim. The retro-reflective materials on the glasses are designed to reflect light back at the same angle as it arrived - which is useful only during flash photography (above how retro-reflective materials work on the glasses) The infrared lights, placed around the eyes and nose areas of the glasses, breaks facial detection software. However, a drawback is that some cellphone camera sensors have infrared filters that are capable of cutting off any wavelengths beyond the visible spectrum. Through the use of infrared light and retro-reflective materials, the glasses are designed to protects people's online identities. 1) Infrared LED lights: They are completely invisible to human eyes, and are only detectable by cameras which are sensitive to the wavelengths of these lights. 2) Retro-reflective materials: They are claimed to help maintain privacy at the moment that the image is actually taken. While most surfaces reflect light by diffusing or scattering it in all directions, retro-reflective materials are specially designed to reflect light back at the same angle as it arrived - which is useful during flash photography. Above, an illustration for how retro-reflective materials in the glasses work . Source: AVG . The retro-reflective materials on the glasses are designed to reflect light back at the same angle as it arrived - which is useful only during flash photography. Tanweer Ali, Senior Developer at AVG's Innovation Labs, said that they designed the glasses after exploring the increasing risks of privacy in the digital age. 'With the increasing use of cellphone cameras in public places, the possibility of your picture or video being taken unaware and ending up on the internet is ever growing,' Ali wrote in a company blog post. 'Take Google's StreetView example, when they pictured random people in objectionable places or situations such as vomiting, being arrested etc., or filming inside their home fences. 'In some countries, Google is even allowed to keep the uncensored images for six months.' He then asked: 'How much of our visual identity can we protect from unwanted privacy invaders? 'Can we hide ourselves from cameras or interfere with the face-recognition technologies?' Ali's questions highlights a report that revealed depending on a smartphone's settings, the device could be using its built-in GPS capability to embed the exact location of the user into the file of photos captured on camera, according to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. In this process known as geotagging, if the photographs are shared online, criminals can track the user's movements based on the geotag and also find out where someone lives. Facebook automatically strips out geotags, according to the report. As the glasses are only a prototype, AVG said not to expect them on the market any time soon while they continue to explore how technology can combat privacy issues. Surprisingly, Invisibility Glasses are not the first of its kind to try and disguise people's identities. Earlier this year, Paul McCartney's DJ, Chris Holmes, debuted a line of reflective clothing that intentionally ruins paparazzi's highly-coveted photos by deflecting the light from their cameras. The collection, launched during Betabrand's Think Tank competition, includes a hooded jacket, an infinity scarf and a blazer that look like everyday pieces, but essentially act as a mirror when hit with bright light, rendering the wearer practically invisible in flash photography. Earlier this year, Paul McCartney's DJ, Chris Holmes, debuted a line of reflective clothing that intentionally ruins paparazzi's highly-coveted photos by deflecting the light from their cameras (above) The collection, launched during Betabrand's Think Tank competition, includes a hooded jacket, an infinity scarf and a blazer that look like everyday pieces, but essentially act as a mirror when hit with bright light, rendering the wearer practically invisible in flash photography .
Invisibility Glasses by AVG, a software security company, use infrared LED light and retro-reflective materials to block a clear facial capture . Glasses, which are only a prototype, break facial detection software, such as technology used on Facebook .