Lock at First Sight is a wearable adversarial designed object, a pair of custom-made contact lenses with a customized iris pattern on its surface which is based on its user’s handwritten autograph. The handwritten autograph in the iris design is inspired by a handcrafted name seal.  The customized iris pattern is purposefully designed to confuse an iris recognition system by being a physical firewall (ie. a lock). This project is a design proposal that enhances biometrics information, redefines a human body as a cyborg, and amalgamates the biological body into a digital authentication system through the contact lenses that serve as wearable locks.

 

This project challenges the relationship between the privacy of the human body and a digital system of biometrics, which measures the physiological characteristics, such as iris patterns, fingerprints, that can identify an individual. The development of biometrics alleviates the overwhelming burden of the plethora of passwords, numeric and letter combinations, that let users access any online activity. The password functions as a lock in digital space to protect private information. But how is Lock at First Sight different from other adversarial designs, such as adversarial eyeglasses and face make-up?

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Biometrics is based on the concept of “oneness (uniqueness)” of a person’s body; we all “carry” biometrics passwords in our bodies. The first biometric information was a 1891 collection of fingerprints data from criminals in Argentina by Juan Vucetich. Since then, physiological behavioral biometrics have been developing to date for about a century. Physiological biometrics include ear, iris, retina, face, fingerprint, hand gesture, voice, vein, and DNA recognition. Behavioral biometrics cover signature, gait, and keystroke dynamics. With all those types of biometrics, the human body now becomes a collection of varying mobile locks.

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Due to debates over individual rights and bodily integrity, or informational self-determination[1], the discrepancy between privacy and security has been a hot topic. Once it is registered in any digital authentication system, then biometrics is not secret. If one of an individual’s physiological biometrics is compromised by any chance, then it can no longer function as a secretive password because anyone can access the leaked biometrics’ information. It also cannot be canceled or revoked, and it does not have variance. This means that biometric information contains consistent data even if its signals and template can look different through algorithms.

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To promote the recognition of biometrics, adversarial design suggests many wearable devices that confuse biometrics system, specifically a facial recognition system. Those examples of adversarial designs include a wearable face projector (Jing-cai- Liu), a privacy visor (Isao Echizen), and makeup technique known as CV Dazzle (Adam Harvey). Unlike other adversarial designs, Lock at First Sight blends a part of the human body with a digital security lock, enhancing the natural human body into a hybrid living being, a cyborg.

 

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[1] A term “informational self-determination” was first coined by Germans regarding personal information collected during the 1983 census. It is now enclosed as a right into their constitution.