New camera turns you into stick figure, stops home devices snooping on you

In an era where smart home devices are omnipresent, safeguarding personal privacy has become increasingly crucial. A groundbreaking camera technology, PrivacyLens, promises to protect users from the risks of embarrassing and identifiable photos and videos.

This protection extends to images and footage collected by smart home cameras and robotic vacuums.

Developed by engineers at the University of Michigan, PrivacyLens is set to transform the landscape of privacy in smart devices.

How does PrivacyLens work?

PrivacyLens employs a dual-camera system that includes both a standard video camera and a heat-sensing camera . By detecting the body temperature of people in its field of view, PrivacyLens can identify individuals and replace their likeness with generic stick figures.

These stick figures accurately mirror the movements of the real people, ensuring that devices relying on the camera can still function without compromising the privacy of individuals in view.

“Most consumers do not think about what happens to the data collected by their favorite smart home devices. In most cases, raw audio, images, and videos are being streamed off these devices to the manufacturers’ cloud-based servers, regardless of whether or not the data is actually needed for the end application,” said Alanson Sample, U-M associate professor of computer science and engineering and the corresponding author of the study.

“A smart device that removes personally identifiable information before sensitive data is sent to private servers will be a far safer product than what we currently have.”

PrivacyLens aims to tackle the pressing issue of private moments being inadvertently captured and shared online.

For instance, in 2020, a photo of a person on the toilet was posted online. The picture was taken by an iRobot Roomba that unknowingly entered the bathroom and uploaded the photos to a start-up’s cloud server. According to an investigation by MIT Technology Review, the photo then appeared on social media groups.

Enhancing privacy and security in healthcare

One of the primary applications of PrivacyLens is in the healthcare sector, where cameras are used to monitor chronic health conditions and fitness routines at home.

PrivacyLens technology ensures that raw photos are never stored on the device or in the cloud, providing strong privacy protection. The engineering team hopes this will make people more comfortable using cameras for health and fitness monitoring at home without worrying about privacy breaches.

“Cameras provide rich information to monitor health. It could help track exercise habits and other activities of daily living, or call for help when an elderly person falls,” said Yasha Iravantchi, a doctoral student in computer science and engineering who will present PrivacyLens on July 18 at the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium in Bristol, U.K.

“But this presents an ethical dilemma for people who would benefit from this technology. Without privacy mitigations, we present a situation where they must weigh giving up their privacy in exchange for good chronic care. This device could allow us to get valuable medical data while preserving patient privacy.”

Real-world applications and ethical implications

PrivacyLens is a major step forward for personal privacy and could transform many fields by ensuring strong privacy protection.

The team conducted an initial survey with 15 participants. The survey revealed that using animated stick figures instead of real images made people more comfortable with having cameras in their homes, even in the most private spaces.

Additionally, PrivacyLens includes a sliding privacy scale, enabling users to control how much of their faces and bodies are censored.

“Our survey suggested that people might feel comfortable only blurring their face when in the kitchen, but in other parts of the home they may want their whole body removed from the image,” Sample explained . “We want to give people control over their private information and who has access to it.”

PrivacyLens has significant potential beyond personal use. It could be vital in public spaces, with vehicle manufacturers using it to prevent autonomous vehicles from becoming surveillance tools.

Also, companies collecting data with outdoor cameras could use PrivacyLens to comply with privacy laws and regulations.

“There’s a wide range of tasks where we want to know when people are present and what they are doing, but capturing their identity isn’t helpful in performing the task. So why risk it?” Iravantchi said.

The findings of this breakthrough are published in the journal Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies .