Techie Times
Is Facebooks new Face Recognition a violation of your privacy?
Tuesday June 21, 2011
Facebook has adjusted its interface to enable "tag suggestions" to its members around the world. When someone else uploads an image that Facebook "thinks contains your image in it. Your friend will receive an alert like this;
and then be invited to tag it. The tag will associate your ID to that image and then automatically posts it to your wall.
Part of the issue here is that you won't ever receive this alert, only your friends will, and only
your friends can tag that image as you. Once you receive the
notification AFTER the image has been tagged, you can remove the tag.
But what if the image isn't actually you? And what if the image is not only not you, but is of someone who is in some sort of compromising situation such? For example, Pastor John could log
into his Facebook one day and see an image on his page that has been
tagged as him being in a compromising situation with someone who isn't
his wife. Of course it looks enough like him for Facebook to think it's him, but it isn't. Something like this could cause quite a bit of a stir, don't you think?
What
is even more disturbing about this new feature is that the system is
actually turned on by default, without notifying you that it is active
and in use, and converts the photos uploaded by Facebook users into an
image identification system under the sole control of Facebook, without
the knowledge or consent of Facebook users and without adequate
consideration of the risks to Facebook users. And even though Facebook
allows you to op-out of this feature, the tool would still scan that
person's face and figure out who it is, and store it in the system, it
just won't display that information anymore.
So if you are a criminal or someone who is up to mischief by having more than one Facebook account, you might want to take notice here. If you have an account that you are using to cheat on your wife or girlfriend, you might not want to post your pictures on there, lest she receive an alert one day showing your alternate persona on facebook. And for the criminals out there who currently have Facebook accounts and have, up til now, been enjoying their hidden freedom whilst having an outstanding warrant for their arrest, this might pose a new threat to your success in evading the authorities.
So if you are a criminal or someone who is up to mischief by having more than one Facebook account, you might want to take notice here. If you have an account that you are using to cheat on your wife or girlfriend, you might not want to post your pictures on there, lest she receive an alert one day showing your alternate persona on facebook. And for the criminals out there who currently have Facebook accounts and have, up til now, been enjoying their hidden freedom whilst having an outstanding warrant for their arrest, this might pose a new threat to your success in evading the authorities.
Facebook says that only people currently in your friends list will
receive this notification, however, I recently had someone find me on
Facebook who I hadn't heard from in many years. How did it happen? I had
made a new profile on Facebook for Real 2 Net Media and I uploaded a
photo that he had in his online photo collection. Facebook recognized it
and sent him the suggestion to add me as a friend. At first, I was
confused at how this happened, until I read more about this new feature
on Facebook and realized that they also take advantage of the online
photo albums each user has. So in truth, the person who receives this
notification doesn't have to actually be in your friends list, they just
have to have a photo of you, and the connection is automatically made by
Facebook.
Is Facebook trying to become an offshoot of "Big Brother" now? Facebook rarely tells users that they have changed the account privacy settings and nearly always automatically opts users into the unannounced changes. It is estimated that more than 100 million photos per day are uploaded to Facebook. What are the chances that there is someone out there who looks just enough like you for the system to tag it? I mean, let's face it, the gene pool is pretty thin now days, and how many times have you had someone walk up to you and say, "Wow you look just like so and so, the resemblance is uncanny!"
So now that you are aware of this new threat to your privacy, here's how you can turn it off:
Under the "Account" drop-down menu at the top-right of Facebook's title bar, click "Privacy settings." On the bottom half of the next window, under "Sharing on Facebook" click "Custom." Then at the bottom, click on the little blue pencil and its "customize settings label." In the next window scroll down to the "Things others share" section and the third list item, "Suggest photos of me to friends." Click on the "Edit Settings" button, and scan to the middle right of the new pop-up window, which has little pics of your friends to remind you how friendly Facebook is. See the facility is enabled? Click on this button, select "Disabled." And then click on "OK" to make the pop-up go away.
After you're done with that, you might want to check your other settings to make sure that your privacy settings are where you want them to be. Here are some tips of how to enable other privacy measures.
If you were to ask my opinion I would say that I think Facebook's willingness to implement new features that bypass your permission automatically puts them in a risky position. Remember when everyone left MySpace because they couldn't seem to get control of the spam and profile hacking situation? Well this is a bit more serious because it isn't an outside party doing this, it is Facebook itself. While they may not be compromising your actual account or putting you in a position to be hacked, they do compromise your privacy. What about a woman who has been severely abused by an individual that she is now hiding from? He may be able to find her on Facebook when she uploads a picture. If she has her location showing on her profile, he can find her and stalk her.
Facebook should be notifying us of such changes before they take place, especially when it is a feature that involves your privacy. This should be an "Op-In" feature, not automatically added to everyone's profile without consent or awareness. How dare they!
So if you are a criminal or someone who is up to mischief by having more than one Facebook account, you might want to take notice here. If you have an account that you are using to cheat on your wife or girlfriend, you might not want to post your pictures on there, lest she receive an alert one day showing your alternate persona on facebook. And for the criminals out there who currently have Facebook accounts and have, up til now, been enjoying their hidden freedom whilst having an outstanding warrant for their arrest, this might pose a new threat to your success in evading the authorities.
So if you are a criminal or someone who is up to mischief by having more than one Facebook account, you might want to take notice here. If you have an account that you are using to cheat on your wife or girlfriend, you might not want to post your pictures on there, lest she receive an alert one day showing your alternate persona on facebook. And for the criminals out there who currently have Facebook accounts and have, up til now, been enjoying their hidden freedom whilst having an outstanding warrant for their arrest, this might pose a new threat to your success in evading the authorities.
Is Facebook trying to become an offshoot of "Big Brother" now? Facebook rarely tells users that they have changed the account privacy settings and nearly always automatically opts users into the unannounced changes. It is estimated that more than 100 million photos per day are uploaded to Facebook. What are the chances that there is someone out there who looks just enough like you for the system to tag it? I mean, let's face it, the gene pool is pretty thin now days, and how many times have you had someone walk up to you and say, "Wow you look just like so and so, the resemblance is uncanny!"
So now that you are aware of this new threat to your privacy, here's how you can turn it off:
Under the "Account" drop-down menu at the top-right of Facebook's title bar, click "Privacy settings." On the bottom half of the next window, under "Sharing on Facebook" click "Custom." Then at the bottom, click on the little blue pencil and its "customize settings label." In the next window scroll down to the "Things others share" section and the third list item, "Suggest photos of me to friends." Click on the "Edit Settings" button, and scan to the middle right of the new pop-up window, which has little pics of your friends to remind you how friendly Facebook is. See the facility is enabled? Click on this button, select "Disabled." And then click on "OK" to make the pop-up go away.
After you're done with that, you might want to check your other settings to make sure that your privacy settings are where you want them to be. Here are some tips of how to enable other privacy measures.
If you were to ask my opinion I would say that I think Facebook's willingness to implement new features that bypass your permission automatically puts them in a risky position. Remember when everyone left MySpace because they couldn't seem to get control of the spam and profile hacking situation? Well this is a bit more serious because it isn't an outside party doing this, it is Facebook itself. While they may not be compromising your actual account or putting you in a position to be hacked, they do compromise your privacy. What about a woman who has been severely abused by an individual that she is now hiding from? He may be able to find her on Facebook when she uploads a picture. If she has her location showing on her profile, he can find her and stalk her.
Facebook should be notifying us of such changes before they take place, especially when it is a feature that involves your privacy. This should be an "Op-In" feature, not automatically added to everyone's profile without consent or awareness. How dare they!
On a side note, if you have been experiencing issues with your computer, especially after using Facebook, you might want to check out Sophos, they not only have a great anti-virus but they keep you up to date on changes within the Facebook community, not to mention, they have an awesome YouTube channel where you can get news on a weekly basis. Here is their latest video news report.
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