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Facebook Photo-Recognition Software Stokes Privacy Concerns
Facebook Inc. (“Facebook”), the often critiqued and maligned social networking juggernaut, has once again triggered ire from privacy activists, the U.S. Congress and European privacy officials.
Facebook has faced-off against countless privacy advocates with respect to the manner in which new services and technology were rolled-out to the public. In the past, Facebook has been known to provide new services automatically to all users, even those who may not be aware of those new services. Following the same protocol, Facebook released its new Photo-Recognition software in a similar manner and is presently facing a reprise of those same privacy concerns.
In addition to the previously echoed privacy arguments, Facebook is facing novel privacy issues stemming from the nature of the software itself. Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information pointed out that, “Facebook users thought they were simply tagging their friends. Turns out Facebook was building an image profile database to automate online identification”.
For additional information:
http://tinyurl.com/facebook-facial