<![CDATA[Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people.]]>Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. At Def Con, for the first time, he demoed the pattern printed on a car against a Flock camera to prove it works. (One of my favorite talks from Def Con this year!)

More by me at TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/09/this-adversarial-pattern-can-prevent-surveillance-cameras-from-detecting-you/

Ad-blocker bypass: https://web.archive.org/web/20260810033558/https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/09/this-adversarial-pattern-can-prevent-surveillance-cameras-from-detecting-you/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/e6838047-ee71-44ec-ad39-e6ea3e0185cd/bill-swearingen-spent-the-past-year-developing-a-pattern-that-can-defeat-being-detected-by-surveillance-cameras-including-vehicles-and-people.RSS for NodeThu, 20 Aug 2026 08:15:56 GMTMon, 10 Aug 2026 11:29:07 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:52:29 GMT]]>@Seedymofo
or even better: keep adblocker but disable too, and then read article. @zackwhittaker

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://veganism.social/users/pelle/statuses/117072720639770509https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://veganism.social/users/pelle/statuses/117072720639770509Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:52:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:12:28 GMT]]>@sleepysaf @zackwhittaker You've misunderstood my intent. The intent was to share a comic that is related to OP that I found entertaining.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/cR0w/statuses/117072563334162526https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/cR0w/statuses/117072563334162526Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:12:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:09:37 GMT]]>@cR0w @zackwhittaker You've misunderstood the goal. The goal is not to make the vehicle anonymous, the goal is to make searching for it amidst the thousands of hours of footage incredibly annoying because detections are not flagged by the system and therefore easily searchable

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/sleepysaf/statuses/117072552093093614https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/sleepysaf/statuses/117072552093093614Mon, 10 Aug 2026 18:09:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:55:53 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker Man, if they had this in a polo...

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/ajn142/statuses/117072262145185508https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/ajn142/statuses/117072262145185508Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:55:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:53:34 GMT]]>Oh can't wait to see his latest talk. Bill did another talk a few years back on defeating radar guns. Love his approaches to surveillance and privacy issues

@zackwhittaker

https://youtu.be/vQtLms02PFM

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://partyon.xyz/users/nullagent/statuses/117072253050854782https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://partyon.xyz/users/nullagent/statuses/117072253050854782Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:53:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 15:06:54 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker Nice work. Looking forward to the video.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/doctorlaura/statuses/117071833629135201https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/doctorlaura/statuses/117071833629135201Mon, 10 Aug 2026 15:06:54 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 15:01:30 GMT]]>@cR0w in the last year or so my state introduced “blackout” plates that are license plates with bright white characters on an all black field. A lot of people have been saying it’s to make it easier for computers to read your plate and track you.

I guess they don’t realize that mobile plate scanners on vehicles and stationary readers at places like toll plazas have been doing this for decades already. Easier? Maybe. But it didn’t seem overly difficult before.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://sunny.garden/ap/users/116915800445586531/statuses/117071812407816022https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://sunny.garden/ap/users/116915800445586531/statuses/117071812407816022Mon, 10 Aug 2026 15:01:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:18:03 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker

two questions

1
if this becomes popular, how long before Flock figures out how to defeat this ?

2
This will probably be so rare that it will make you instantly identifiable eg

I read, maybe 20 years ago, that so few people use add ons to their browsers (like ad blockers) that using add ons increases your fingerprint and makes you more easily trackable across the web

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/failedLyndonLaRouchite/statuses/117071641529879344https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/failedLyndonLaRouchite/statuses/117071641529879344Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:18:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:13:32 GMT]]>@Barkeep @zackwhittaker interesting read

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Seedymofo/statuses/117071623805873592https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Seedymofo/statuses/117071623805873592Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:13:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:02:04 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker strong vibes, because of this paragraph in particular.

Each pattern can be used once and must be promptly discarded, never to be seen again.

@GreatDismal still in my mind with that one, even after all this time.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wtrmt/statuses/117071578680470201https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/wtrmt/statuses/117071578680470201Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:02:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:40:46 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker

I think that the government will solve the problem by kindly asking us to wear uniforms. Ever. And prosecute all other persons as terrorists.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_RyekDarkener_/statuses/117071494914038668https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_RyekDarkener_/statuses/117071494914038668Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:40:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:35:25 GMT]]>@cR0w @zackwhittaker yep.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/ojonnysilva/statuses/117071473880515820https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/ojonnysilva/statuses/117071473880515820Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:35:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:35:14 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker Now they just need to come up with a pattern that you can be recognizable by just looking at it.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/ojonnysilva/statuses/117071473188066937https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/ojonnysilva/statuses/117071473188066937Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:35:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:34:40 GMT]]>@Seedymofo @zackwhittaker There are two links, did you try the “Adblock bypass” one?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/Laukidh/statuses/117071470978621453https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/Laukidh/statuses/117071470978621453Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:34:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:10:56 GMT]]>@Barkeep @zackwhittaker Hadn’t spotted that, much obliged.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Seedymofo/statuses/117071377637611786https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Seedymofo/statuses/117071377637611786Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:10:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:03:52 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker one software tweak and sayonara

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/donlamb_1/statuses/117071349830701409https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/donlamb_1/statuses/117071349830701409Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:03:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:00:20 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker dude wtf

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/blogdiva/statuses/117071335955361329https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/blogdiva/statuses/117071335955361329Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:00:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:55:48 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker

https://xkcd.com/1105/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/cR0w/statuses/117071318132261432https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/cR0w/statuses/117071318132261432Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:55:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:17:52 GMT]]>@gclef @zackwhittaker I was going to say all the adversarial talks we used to give around 2013 citing that and razzle dazzle, and OEMs themselves...

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/flyingpenguin/statuses/117071168945618787https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/flyingpenguin/statuses/117071168945618787Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:17:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:14:42 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker

Reminds me of the Lakota Sioux "ghost shirts"...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_shirt

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/gclef/statuses/117071156542122894https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/gclef/statuses/117071156542122894Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:14:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:14:16 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker that talk is so 2016 I can't even. is def con just old news now?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/flyingpenguin/statuses/117071154817027854https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/flyingpenguin/statuses/117071154817027854Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:14:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Bill Swearingen spent the past year developing a pattern that can defeat being detected by surveillance cameras, including vehicles and people. on Mon, 10 Aug 2026 11:50:35 GMT]]>@zackwhittaker Disable my adblocker? Thanks but I’ll just read the story elsewhere.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Seedymofo/statuses/117071061646930285https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Seedymofo/statuses/117071061646930285Mon, 10 Aug 2026 11:50:35 GMT