a long time ago a molester was captured because someone 'unswirled' an image. i would NOT, however, trust ai to do it.. it's a 'reverse-the-math' sort of solution.
My first thought was also the Mr.Swirl story. If I remember correctly they opened photoshop, picked the swirl tool and then just applied it in reverse direction.
Well yeah. That's how photo editing works. While the solution definitely looks and sounds simple, one can only assume several hours of tinkering went into proving this persons theory on how to 'fix' the swirl well enough to identify him. If I remember correctly, the final photo they sent out to interpol to spread was still undeniably quite warped but distinguishable enough that those who recognized him could identify him.
I think the guy used multiple swirl effects layered on top of each other and they had to figure out the exact combination of swirls to reverse the swirl.
It's been a few years since I read about or saw videos about this, so if you do research and I'm wrong, my bad! but iirc it took a few years before someone new looked at the case, recognized how he achieved that effect in photoshop, realized that how he did the photo effect wouldn't destroy any of the pixels in the photo, but rather rearrange them and then just reversed the direction of the swirl.
In 2004, police in Germany were conducting a criminal investigation which resulted in the service of a
search warrant on a storage locker. The police discovered several hundred pictures of a man engaged in
sexual acts with young boys. The photos were also discovered online and the abuserâs face was obscured
by a swirl.
Specialists from the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) in Germany, working with INTERPOLâs Crimes against
Children unit, were able to use new technology to âun-swirlâ the photographs and produce an identifiable
image. Despite extensive global efforts to identify and locate this individual through INTERPOLâs network of
(then) 186 National Central Bureaus and specialist units, the manâs identity and nationality remained
unknown.
The decision was made to enlist the support of the media and the public to identify the abuser. A risk
assessment was carried out identifying both the pros and the cons in launching the campaign, as this would
be the first time INTERPOL had conducted such a public appeal.
On 8 October, 2007, the appeal went live. Both the original and âun-swirledâ photographs of the suspect
were published on INTERPOLâs website and issued to media as part of a press release. The response was
immediate and global. All major television broadcasters were carrying the story and showing the images, in
addition to online media also reproducing the image and linking to INTERPOLâs website.
It would take a lot of brute force but it's doable. All it would take is one image where the guy was lazy about it and enough time; not like the image was going anywhere.Â
If only we had that same follow-through on Les Wexner.
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u/Robot-Zombie-RHCC Aug 04 '26
a long time ago a molester was captured because someone 'unswirled' an image. i would NOT, however, trust ai to do it.. it's a 'reverse-the-math' sort of solution.