I saw this in the documentary Citizen Four. And of course he just wanted to remain very anonymous at this time. I'm just wondering why he did not just tape the front camera off his laptop.
Well, maybe because you could have seen the eye movements, and thus on which part of the keyboard he starts.
In the film "Snowden" he hides himself in the hotel room under a blanket…
Well, he's just wearing glasses. It could be sufficient for a slow-motion shot of the mirror image for the "recording".
But Panzertape fulfills the same purpose or not?
Yes. But the journalists in the room also have so-called eyes. You always have to be careful.
But the journalists were also very careful and Snowden apparently trusted them too.
I agree with previous speakers - reflections of the glasses or eye movements could reveal something.
On the other hand, consider what situation he is in - everyone would be quite paranoid!
In the end, it will be a combination of both - because the idea of interpreting eye movements and reflections from a very small Bidausschnitt is quite far-fetched. Feasible but practical, the resolution will be too small to detect the PW with certainty.
But even weighing the input to narrow down to a few letters per digit eliminates a lot of the possibilities.
So it would have been really necessary to do it - but not after being declared a "Public Enemy No. 1" you see in each and every one of them a potential danger…
Remember that the glasses can also mirror the keyboard. The position of letters is pretty easy to recognize, even at low resolution (with only 14 x 46 pixels, the recognition accuracy could still be close to 100%, because a large keyboard has only half as many keys in each axis)
Yes, of course, there are still fingers and hands in the way that cover a lot, plus the fact that the focus is on the face and therefore the reflection will be a bit blurred and then there's the motion blur - probably with 1 / 50 sec. Shot for the 25fps and he will not type in his PW in the eagle search system.
The lighting for an interview should also barely illuminate the keyboard - a hair light from behind is held by the body and a main light from the front side is blocked by the laptop display.
At the end we have a blurred, too dark, very small picture with unclear movement.
Your assumption is only correct if the focus is placed on the mirror image in the interview and thus the face is blurred and in addition the keyboard is illuminated from somewhere. This would have interview but only facade to spy on the PW.
Wow - and if one of your assumptions is wrong? If only the fair skin provides sufficient contrast to the dark keyboard? When the fingers are in front of the hand and therefore not covered. Would you as (in this case really justified!) Paranoid citizens take any additional own measures to be sure?
I've been busy for a book just - not Snowden in particular but the whole CSI * series and what is there with pictures, etc. Shown. From a mirror reflection in the portrait photo to equalize a characteristic and just read stories such as ATM pin from reflections, etc.
I say the chance is low and the "fair skin" offers just no Kontast if not lit. A camera records much less contrast than the human. Eye. Say what looks dark to our eyes is often already drowned black in the camera and then there's just no more drawing but only a black spot.
Therefore I say theoretically feasible but practically only feasible if the camera team uses the interview as a pretext to spy on his PW and thus is the (in his situation very justified) paranoia.
That's what it's all about. Paranoia has protected him - better once too much than a single time a little too little. And even you hold the chance for low - not impossible. And you have to think about all that while you're acting - not just afterwards in the analysis.
That's exactly what I mean - the opportunity is theoretically there - practically corresponds to the success of a 5 or 5 with ZZ in the lottery - that is just as likely to be slain as a sparrow-walking by a falling roof tile but in the situation keeps you just absolute paranoia alive
