Privacy glasses thwart face-recognition tech

With improvements in facial-recognition technology and the increasing popularity of smartphones, the threat to one's privacy unexpectedly posed by Internet photos posted by strangers is growing day by day. To protect against unwanted scrutiny, trading company Nissey Corp., based in Sabae, Fukui Prefecture, has developed special glasses that thwart electronic facial recognition. The Privacy Visor is a set of white titanium goggles with lenses that have a mesh-like surface providing many tiny spaces to see through. "Since the view might not be clear, driving or riding on bicycles must be avoided," a Nissey spokesman warned. The glasses were jointly developed with the National Institute of Informatics, a research institute dedicated to information technology.