Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters by gait, heartbeat

Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by _bxg1 on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @05:31PM (#22479355)

I read a (just okay) near-future cyber dystopia novel called "Little Brother" once. It had this interesting segment where gait recognition was being used to track people instead of facial recognition because it was more reliable (I'm not sure whether this is true in reality, but regardless).

Anyway. The main character had an easy way of breaking it: toss some gravel in one of your shoes. It'll disrupt your natural walking pattern in a randomized way without you having to even think about it.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by ISO-morphism on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @06:29PM (#22479759)

I like to imagine a future where all pedestrians move about like they're from the ministry of silly walks to thwart gait analysis.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by yunruse on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @09:29PM (#22480714)

It would be humorous at least to know Monty Python was ahead of its time in more ways than one.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by bonestamp2 on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @01:53AM (#22481724)

It's weird to think that Razor scooters or skateboards might be a privacy tool of the future.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by harimau777 on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @07:18PM (#22480074)

Alternate dystopia:

The AI identifies anyone who has an abnormal gait (e.g. due to a handicap or physical deformity) as likely attempting to evade the system and therefore flags them as a bad credit risk.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by m463 on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @05:53PM (#22479506)

Was it Little Brother by Cory Doctorow?

https://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

(he makes most of his books available for free download)

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by underwater on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @06:43PM (#22479852)

Yes, the setup was that the school implemented gait detection for students.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by _bxg1 on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @05:54PM (#22479520)

I think so!

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by jetrink on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @05:54PM (#22479521)

This is a real technique from the espionage world. I heard the CIA's former "Chief of Disguise", Jonna Mendez, mention it in an interview a few years ago.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by squarefoot on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @06:14PM (#22479647)

"gait recognition was being used to track people instead of facial recognition because it was more reliable"

Very possible today; it can be accomplished by using the accelerometer almost everyone has in his/hers cellphone. No camera needed, and who wouldn't give apps the permissions to access the accelerometer?

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by this_is_not_you on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @05:31AM (#22482630)

If I remember correctly they had implemented gait recognition in the school because facial recognition was not allowed, not because it was better.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by dlsso on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @05:37PM (#22479400)

Until they isolate the gravel in shoes gait.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by _bxg1 on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @05:38PM (#22479406)

Theoretically it would shuffle around and be different sizes each time, so it would never be quite the same. And you could alternate shoes to mix things up a little more.

Of course if you're the only one with gravel maybe that would stand out. Which is why we need to get everyone on the same gravel-based onion network :P

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by admiral33 on Tuesday March 03, 2020 @06:56PM (#22479935)

We could make a shoe that shifts water around in the sole over time.

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Re:Mastercard investing in technology to identify commuters ... by djmips on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @03:13AM (#22482005)

Kind of like active suspension in a car, it would randomize your gait but I suspect it won't be so easy and that a certain arms race of detection vs confounding / mimicking would ensue.

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