To Counter Widespread Surveillance, Stealth Clothing 104
In Paul Theroux's dystopian novel O-Zone, wearing masks in public is simply a fact of life, because of the network of cameras that covers the inhabited parts of earth. Earthquake Retrofit writes with a story at the New York Times describing a life-imitating-art reaction to the perception (and reality) that cameras are watching more of your life than you might prefer: clothing that obscures your electronic presence. "[Adam Harvey] exhibited a number of his stealth-wear designs and prototypes in an art show this year in London. His work includes a series of hoodies and cloaks that use reflective, metallic fabric — like the kind used in protective gear for firefighters — that he has repurposed to reduce a person’s thermal footprint. In theory, this limits one’s visibility to aerial surveillance vehicles employing heat-imaging cameras to track people on the ground. He also developed a purse with extra-bright LEDs that can be activated when someone is taking unwanted pictures; the effect is to reduce an intrusive photograph to a washed-out blur. In addition, he created a guide for hairstyling and makeup application that might keep a camera from recognizing the person beneath the elaborate get-up. The technique is called CV Dazzle — a riff on 'computer vision' and 'dazzle,' a type of camouflage used during World War II to make it hard to detect the size and shape of warships."
Re:Heat reflective clothing? (Score:5, Insightful)
It may be possible to create a fabric that doesn't let thermal radiation escape, but lets the air through so convection can cool the wearer
Cooling is the removal of heat. Your air conditioner blows hotter air out its exhaust than it blows cold inside. Either you'll be seen or will get rapidly hot.
Firefighters' gear keeps the firefighters cooler than they would without it because the heat their bodies generate isn't as hot as the surrounding air. Too long in that gear and they suffer from heat exhaustion.
Re:Heat reflective clothing? (Score:4, Insightful)
It may be possible to create a fabric that doesn't let thermal radiation escape, but lets the air through so convection can cool the wearer. That would actually be worthy of an article.
man, that would not only be worth of an article that would be worth of a nobel prize.
(yes, you can create something that blocks radiation but still breathes, problem is that "breathing" air still shows up on the IR cam. I suppose it would be possible to have forced air cooling that would spread the heat far enough to not make a blip on the IR camera though)