Korean Facial Recognition Project Faces Opposition

December 1, 2021 by 20 Comments

It was discovered last month that a South Korean government project has been providing millions of facial images taken at Incheon International Airport to private industry without the consent of those photographed. Several civic groups called this a “shocking human rights disaster” in a 9 Nov press conference, and formally requested that the project be cancelled. In response, the government has only promised that “the project would be conducted at a minimum level to ensure personal information is not abused”. These groups are now planning a lawsuit to challenge the project.

Facial information and other biometric data aren’t easily altered and are unique to the individuals concerned. If this data were to be leaked, it would constitute a devastating infringement upon their privacy. It’s unheard of for state organizations — whose duty it is to manage and control facial recognition technology — to hand over biometric information collected for public purposes to a private-sector company for the development of technology.

The program itself wasn’t secret, and had been publicly announced back in 2019. But the project’s scope and implementation weren’t made clear until a lawmaker recently requested documents on the project from the responsible government agencies. The system, called the Artificial Intelligence and Tracking System Construction Project, was a pilot program set to run until 2022. Its goals were to simplify the security and immigration screening of passengers, improve airport security, and to promote the local AI industry in South Korea. If the project proves successful, the plan is to expand it to other airports and ports in the country.

Current systems at the airport do one-to-one facial recognition. For example, they try to determine whether the face of the person presenting a passport matches the photo in the passport. The goal of this new project was to develop one-to-many matching algorithms, which can match one face against the plethora of faces in an airport, track the movement of a face within the airport, and flag “suspicious” activities which could be a security concern.

The groups protesting the project note that the collection and sharing of these images without the travelers’ consent is prohibited by the Personal Information Protection Act, the South Korean law which governs such things. Under this act, a project like this would ordinarily require consent of the participants. But the government’s interpretation relies on an exception in the act, specifically, Article 15 Section 3, which states:

A personal information controller may use personal information without the consent of a data subject within the scope reasonably related to the initial purpose of the collection

Basically they are saying that since the images were collected at the security and immigration checkpoints, and that the project will be using them to improve the security and immigration checkpoints, no consent is required.

  • Foreigners: 120 million individuals, face image, nationality, gender, age
  • Korean citizens: 57.6 million individuals, face image, nationality, gender, age
  • Other: unknown number of individuals, images and videos of atypical behavior and travelers in motion

The breakdown of the numbers above reveals that 57 million Korean citizens are in the data set, a bit surprising to many since the collection of biometric data on Korean citizens at immigration is prohibited by law. The project circumvented this by only collecting data from citizens who participate in the automated Smart Entry service, a voluntary program which uses fingerprints and facial recognition. It’s interesting to note that the number of passengers using Incheon airport since May 2019 (the program was announced 30 Apr 2019) is only 62 million, so the average passenger appears approximately three times in the data set.

Are there any similar programs in your region? How do they handle the issue of consent, if at all? Let us know in the comments below.

[Banner image: “Customer uses facial recognition as identification at TSA security checkpoint” by DeltaNewsHub, CC BY 2.0  — Yes, it’s from another country with similar problems, but much less public outcry. Discuss in the comments!]

The Operator Input Device in a Minuteman II Missile Silo computer

Nuclear Missile Silo Keyboard Re-Launched In USB

December 1, 2021 by 14 Comments

When [jns] and their colleague came across an industrial or possibly military grade keyboard/trackball combo on eBay, their minds did the same backflips that yours or mine might. Enthralled by the specialty key caps, the custom layout, and companion trackball adorned with its own keys rather than buttons [jns] and his workmate they did the only thing that infatuated hackers can do: They each bought one! [jns]’s goal? Make it work via USB.  Everything’s been documented in both software and in a very well done video that you can see below the break.

The OID in its natural habitat, a Minuteman Missile installation
The OID its its natural habitat, a Minuteman III installation (U.S. Air Force photo)

After doing some digging, they found that the keyboard and trackball combination was used in Minuteman III nuclear missile silos beginning in the early 1990’s, when the REACT program replaced aging cold war era computers and communications systems with simpler, more flexible systems.

Since the eBay auction came with only the keyboard and trackball, and not the entire Minuteman III outfit, using the new keyboard in its native habitat and wielding nuclear launch capabilities was right out the door. Instead, [jns] focused on reverse engineering the keyboard and trackball, collectively known as the OID (Operator Input Device) for use via USB.

In the video, [jns] goes into more detail about the discovery of reed switched keys, the RS422 protocol being used, blowing up an Arduino Pro Micro, and even repairing the aging trackball. Success was had, and he’s graciously shared the software and hardware design with the world.

If industrial and military grade control hardware gets your hacker juices flowing, you’ll not want to miss that time we covered a control console from a nuclear power plant for sale. Have you been working on any tantalizing, weird, obscure keyboards or equipment with far too many buttons and blinkenlights for your own good? Be sure to let us know about it via the Tip Line!

Continue reading “Nuclear Missile Silo Keyboard Re-Launched In USB” →

Running Octoprint On A PinePhone Turns Out To Be Pretty Easy

November 30, 2021 by 11 Comments

3D printer owners have for years benefitted from using Octoprint to help manage their machines, and most people run Octoprint on a Raspberry Pi. [Martijn] made it run on his PinePhone instead, which turned out to be a surprisingly good fit for his needs.

While [Martijn] was working out exactly what he wanted and taking an inventory of what Raspberry Pi components and accessories it would require, it occurred to him that his PinePhone — an open-source, linux-based mobile phone — would be a good candidate for his needs. It not only runs Linux with a touchscreen and camera, but even provides USB, ethernet, and separate DC power input via a small docking bar. It looked like the PinePhone had it all, and he was right. [Martijn]’s project page gives a walkthrough of the exact steps to get Octoprint up and running, and it even turns out to not be particularly difficult.

[Martijn] is no stranger to hacking his PinePhone to do various things; we’ve already seen him add thermal imaging to his PinePhone. For those of you who are intrigued by the idea but don’t own a PinePhone? Check out the octo4a project, which allows running Octoprint on Android phone hardware.

Turbo Rascal Is The Retro Pascal Compiler We Always Wanted

November 30, 2021 by 16 Comments

Pascal is not one of the biggest programming languages these days; it’s fallen into the background as the world moved on to newfangled things like C#, Python and Java. However, the language has its fans, one of whom put together a new compiler which targets retro platforms – and it goes by the name Turbo Rascal.

The list of supported platforms is extensive, with Turbo Rascal able to compile highly-optimized binaries for the C64, Amiga 500, BBC Micro, IBM PC, Atari ST, Game Boy, Amstrad, NES, ZX Spectrum, and more. There’s a usable IDE and even an included graphics editor for getting projects put together quickly. Also known by its full name of Turbo Rascal Syntax Error, or TRSE, it’s the work of one [Nicolaas Groeneboom].

The compiler runs on 64-bit Windows, Linux, and OS X, and there are extensive tutorial videos available on YouTube, too. Thus, there’s no excuse not to start developing a new retro game immediately. Check out the demo video below, and remember – as long as we keep using it, Pascal isn’t dead!

Continue reading “Turbo Rascal Is The Retro Pascal Compiler We Always Wanted” →

Hong Kong Hacker Builds Electric Vehicle From Waste

Recycled Parts Round Out Soap Shaped Electric Car

November 30, 2021 by 13 Comments

[Handy Geng] has a knack for fitting his creations with a large percentage of recycled material. And as is exemplified by the video below the break, he also loves to mix the practical with the whimsical.

Using parts salvaged from motor scooters, trash heaps, and likely many other sources, [Handy] has put together a small vehicle that he himself describes as looking like a bar of soap as it slips across the floor. You’ll agree when you see the independent front and rear steering at work, allowing the car’s front and rear to be driven and steered on their own. Crabbing sideways, driving diagonally, and we’re guessing spinning in place are possible.

What’s also clear in the video below is that [Handy] is a talented fabricator. While not taking himself too seriously (keep an eye out for the 360° selfie cam!) he clearly takes pride in the work. [Handy]’s workshop and skill set show that at the core, he’s quite serious about his craft. We appreciate the creative use of scrap materials used in such an inspiring build. The turn signals and “communicator” hand is absolutely marvelous.

If building with recycled materials is your thing, then you’ll love the Trash Printer, too. Thanks to [Fosselius] for the tip!

Continue reading “Recycled Parts Round Out Soap Shaped Electric Car” →

Two-Stage Dust Collector Recycles Blasting Media

November 30, 2021 by 4 Comments

A critical element of a good blasting cabinet setup is a vacuum system that can suck out the dust, blasting media, and bits of removed material faster than it collects inside the chamber. A cyclone separator can get the job done, but since it dumps all the waste from the cabinet into one bucket, it can make reusing the blasting material a dirty job. But as [Daniel Bauen] explains in the latest Engineerable video, his two-stage dust collector is able to keep the cabinet clear while separating the used blasting material into its own container.

The cheap dust separator only works on large particles.

Basically, the idea here is to to use two different cyclone separators: one that’s very effective, and a cheap model that’s only able to remove large particulates. By running the air from the cabinet through the cheap separator first, the used blasting media is captured in a dedicated bucket. From there, the air runs through the high-efficiency separator to extract the finer dust. Finally, the shop vacuum [Daniel] is using has its own washable HEPA filter to catch anything that makes it through the two extractors; though he notes that it only rarely needs to be cleaned out.

Normally this system is attached directly to the blasting cabinet, and it does a good job of capturing the bulk of the used blasting media in real-time. But to make sure the media is really cleaned up being using it again, [Daniel] will actually run the contents of the first bucket through the system a few more times to separate out any of the more stubborn dust that might be mixed in.

Of course not everyone has the space, or even the need, for such an elaborate blasting setup. If you’re just trying to quickly clean up some parts on the cheap, you can make a basic blaster for around $6. Good luck capturing the media though.

Continue reading “Two-Stage Dust Collector Recycles Blasting Media” →

Flip dot display submerged in oil

Giving Flip Dots The Oil Treatment To Shut Them Up

November 30, 2021 by 20 Comments

Flip dot displays are awesome — too bad it’s so hard to find large panels to play around with, but that’s for another article. [Pierre Muth] has been working to find different and interesting things to do with these flip dots, and he recently explored how you can flip them very very gently.

Now you likely remember [Pierre’s] work from earlier this year where he was pushing the speed of the displays as high as possible. Using a capacitor discharge trick he made it to 30 fps, which absolutely stunning work. This time around he attempted to do something equally impressive by micro-stepping the dots. It’s a bonkers idea and unfortunately didn’t work. It seems the dots are engineered for two steady states and you just can’t get very good performance with the in-between states.

However, along the way he had an a-ha moment. Part of what he wanted to do with the microstepping was to slow down the change of the state and for that, he just grabbed a viscous fluid that’s thicker than air: Vaseline oil. (We’d imagine it’s not the cocoa-scented variety, but who knows?) He’s taken a page out of the mineral-oil-cooled PC sub-genre and applied it to flipdots. But watch the video after the break and you’ll see that the slower animations are super pleasing to watch, and the clickity-clackity that was driving you nuts while trying to works is now whisper quiet. It’s a new dawn for displays.

Continue reading “Giving Flip Dots The Oil Treatment To Shut Them Up” →