CV Dazzle is camouflage from computer vision (CV). It is a form of expressive interference that combines makeup and hair styling (or other modifications) with face-detection thwarting designs. The name is derived from a type of camouflage used during WWI, called Dazzle, which was used to break apart the gestalt-image of warships, making it hard to discern their directionality, size, and orientation. Likewise, the goal of CV Dazzle is to break apart the gestalt of a face, or object, and make it undetectable to computer vision algorithms, in particular face detection.
And because face detection is the first step in automated facial recognition, CV Dazzle can be used in any environment where automated face recognition systems are in use, such as FaceBook, Google's Picasa, or Flickr.
The arms race begins...
I remember seeing that a sufficiently high-powered infrared LED would show up on cameras as a very bright spot, obscuring everything around it. You could put several on your hat, and your face would be invisible to cameras.
The downside is that it's very very obvious at a glance that you are doing this - at least to a human. This is much more subtle, at least in urban areas.
If you're a human the dazzle is pretty obvious too...
IR LEDs do work, but camera IR filters are getting better. Night vision not so much, so this trick works particularly well at night.
Camera IR filters work fine, and always have. The little sliver of IR filter optics is comparatively ancient tech.
What makes the IR LED "trick" work is that black and white security cameras, very purposefully, do NOT generally have IR filters: They're designed to convert as much light as possible, no matter the spectrum, into video.
Many color cameras do have IR filters (to improve color fidelity when there is plenty of light available), while some don't (where color is more of a nice feature than something of utmost importance, and/or low cost is paramount).
The Panasonic color CCTV cameras I'm most familiar with have a motorized IR filter which, when the scene is brightly lit, slides in front of the CCD. When the scene gets sufficiently dark, it can be set to automatically move the filter out of the way and switch to B&W mode.
These would be immune from IR dazzling during the day, but still susceptible to it at night.
Infrared LEDs make you invisible to CCTV cameras, boingboing 2008.