MegaPixels is an independent art and research project by Adam Harvey and Jules LaPlace that investigates the ethics, origins, and individual privacy implications of face recognition image datasets and their role in the expansion of biometric surveillance technologies.
MegaPixels is made possible with support from Mozilla
is Berlin-based American artist and researcher. His previous projects (CV Dazzle, Stealth Wear, and SkyLift) explore the potential for counter-surveillance as artwork. He is the founder of VFRAME (visual forensics software for human rights groups) and is a currently researcher in residence at Karlsruhe HfG.
is an American technologist and artist also based in Berlin. He was previously the CTO of a digital agency in NYC and now also works at VFRAME, developing computer vision and data analysis software for human rights groups. Jules also builds experimental software for artists and musicians.
MegaPixels is an art and research project first launched in 2017 for an installation at Tactical Technology Collective's GlassRoom about face recognition datasets. In 2018 MegaPixels was extended to cover pedestrian analysis datasets for a commission by Elevate Arts festival in Austria. Since then MegaPixels has evolved into a large-scale interrogation of hundreds of publicly-available face and person analysis datasets, the first of which launched on this site in April 2019.
MegaPixels aims to provide a critical perspective on machine learning image datasets, one that might otherwise escape academia and industry funded artificial intelligence think tanks that are often supported by the same technology companies who created many of the datasets presented on this site.
MegaPixels is an independent project, designed as a public resource for educators, students, journalists, and researchers. Each dataset presented on this site undergoes a thorough review of its images, intent, and funding sources. Though the goals are similar to publishing an academic paper, MegaPixels is a website-first research project, with an academic publication to follow.
If you use MegaPixels or any data derived from it for your work, please cite our original work as follows:
@online{megapixels,
author = {Harvey, Adam. LaPlace, Jules.},
title = {MegaPixels: Origins, Ethics, and Privacy Implications of Publicly Available Face Recognition Image Datasets},
year = 2019,
url = {https://megapixels.cc/},
urldate = {2019-04-18}
}
Please direct questions, comments, or feedback to mastodon.social/@adamhrv or contact via https://ahprojects.com/about