Open Access

ARTICLE

Identity-Hiding Visual Perception: Progress, Challenges, and Future Directions

Ling Huang^1,2, Hao Zhang^1,2, Jiwei Mo^1,2, Yuehong Liu^1,2, Qiu Lu^1,2,*, Shuiwang Li^1,2,*

1 College of Computer Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541006, China
2 Guangxi Key Laboratory of Embedded Technology and Intelligent System, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

* Corresponding Authors: Qiu Lu. Email: ; Shuiwang Li. Email:

Journal of Information Hiding and Privacy Protection 2025, 7, 45-60. https://doi.org/10.32604/jihpp.2025.066524

Received 10 April 2025; Accepted 10 July 2025; Issue published 31 July 2025

Abstract

Rapid advances in computer vision have enabled powerful visual perception systems in areas such as surveillance, autonomous driving, healthcare, and augmented reality. However, these systems often raise serious privacy concerns due to their ability to identify and track individuals without consent. This paper explores the emerging field of identity-hiding visual perception, which aims to protect personal identity within visual data through techniques such as anonymization, obfuscation, and privacy-aware modeling. We provide a system-level overview of current technologies, categorize application scenarios, and analyze major challenges—particularly the trade-off between privacy and utility, technical complexity, and ethical risks. Furthermore, we examine regulatory trends and propose future research directions, including model-level privacy mechanisms such as federated learning and machine unlearning. By synthesizing insights across technical, ethical, and policy dimensions, this work offers a conceptual roadmap for developing responsible, privacy-preserving visual perception systems.

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Keywords

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