Tools For The Modern State Security Apparatchik
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20069853-93/facebook-quietly-rolls-out-facial-recognition-tool/?tag=cnetRiver
"Facebook quietly rolls out facial-recognition tool
by Boonsri Dickinson
"Weinergate" reminds us yet again that photos can quickly become embarrassing, and even scandalous.
For this and other reasons, many consider it important to have control over who sees their photos. Facebook may be further pushing users' sense of privacy limits with its latest privacy setting change: it has quietly rolled out a facial-recognition tool that will automate photo tagging and suggest friends to tag in your photos based on what they look like."
"Chester Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at Sophos, isn't surprised by the way Facebook introduced the technology. "This is their standard method. They do it secretly and see if the uproar is loud enough. Previously, they've made addresses and phone numbers available to developers but backed out once people made a ruckus about it. This time, they tested [the facial-recognition feature] out on Americans, who are the least privacy-aware.""
""You're not a customer, you're a product," Wisniewski said. "With this facial-recognition feature, photos will be automatically indexed, which will help information spread more quickly."
Jules Polonetsky, director of the organization Future of Privacy, isn't as worried. "It hasn't raised the hackles of users in the six months this has been available in the U.S. because tags are suggested only based on pics that users already have access to," he said. "Facebook is using a fairly limited capacity of recognition compared to what is possible. Going further to identify pics based on other data the system has or third-party data would certainly create a backlash.""
"Facebook quietly rolls out facial-recognition tool
by Boonsri Dickinson
"Weinergate" reminds us yet again that photos can quickly become embarrassing, and even scandalous.
For this and other reasons, many consider it important to have control over who sees their photos. Facebook may be further pushing users' sense of privacy limits with its latest privacy setting change: it has quietly rolled out a facial-recognition tool that will automate photo tagging and suggest friends to tag in your photos based on what they look like."
"Chester Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at Sophos, isn't surprised by the way Facebook introduced the technology. "This is their standard method. They do it secretly and see if the uproar is loud enough. Previously, they've made addresses and phone numbers available to developers but backed out once people made a ruckus about it. This time, they tested [the facial-recognition feature] out on Americans, who are the least privacy-aware.""
""You're not a customer, you're a product," Wisniewski said. "With this facial-recognition feature, photos will be automatically indexed, which will help information spread more quickly."
Jules Polonetsky, director of the organization Future of Privacy, isn't as worried. "It hasn't raised the hackles of users in the six months this has been available in the U.S. because tags are suggested only based on pics that users already have access to," he said. "Facebook is using a fairly limited capacity of recognition compared to what is possible. Going further to identify pics based on other data the system has or third-party data would certainly create a backlash.""