In our world today surveillance is becoming an ever bigger issue. Between government and private industry camera’s there is hardly a time your are not being surveilled (if in a major city at least). And with the ever increasing sophistication of surveillance technology (i.e. facial and retina recognition etc.) it may seem that the days of navigating public spaces in a private manner may be over. But I believe technology will allow us to re-anonymize our selves from this surveillance just as it has in other realms (tor, pgp, bitcoin, encryption, etc.)

I will discuss two technologies, though perhaps a bit distant into the future, hold promise in giving back the power of anonymity to those who wish to have it. These two categories are: 3D-Printing and Biotechnology

3D-PRINTING

First off is 3D-printing. Specifically an area of 3D printing that is not yet highly developed and this is the 3D-printing of latex type materials. Printing of such materials will allow for masks to be made, not only that- you will be able to scan a model of you face so the mask will contour well on the inside to the shape/size of your face while on the outside resemble that of another. Realistic masks exist already and though the are reasonably fake they are still impressive (http://www.spfxmasks.com/ourmasks.php here you can view some, you can also Google “spfxmasks” to see video’s of people wearing them). What I am predicting is that in coming years you will be able to 3D-print a mask of even higher quality, in the privacy of your home. The implications of this can be quite interesting to that of surveillance cameras, though many people will choose not to wear masks, if they are comfortable and well ventilated I think many people with concern for their privacy will chose to do so. Much like people who want there email’s to be private may use PGP, people who wish for their face not to be recorded every second that they are occupying a public or private space may wear one of these personalized 3D printed masks. Lastly it’s interesting to consider the darker side of this type of technology- identity theft, the ability to wear another’s face will become a reality and impersonating others may become a lot easier.


BIOTECHNOLOGY (+3D-PRINTING)

Now this is definitely further down the line, but at some point it will be possible to 3d print skin(this is already possible but just developing http://www.computerworld.com/article/26888…) Now I’m not talking about the medical applications of this(though those are great of course) but rather, as you may guess, the printing a face mask out of skin. Now I am not a biologists so I don’t know how practical my ideas are but essentially you could print a mask of your skin(so that its compatible with you) but change the appearance on the outside thus disguising you. This mask would literally be made out of skin so it would look as real as it could get. People would be able to make fresh identities daily or when they venture out into public. The implication of this is similar to the latex mask, but takes it to a greater level of usability, using real skin will allow for much more believability and will bring people even more anonymity. Once again on the darker side of this identity theft will become easier but liberty comes at a cost, and that cost should always be payed without hesitance or else the road to tyranny will be paved once again.

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BY TOM DON