Facebook knows who you are.
Mark Zuckerberg's company gets involved in yet another privacy controversy by automatically activating a facial recognition feature.
247 – Facebook has just entered into another privacy controversy. By enabling a facial recognition feature for all users of the social network outside the United States automatically – without asking for the user's approval – Mark Zuckerberg's company has found itself under pressure. In Brazil, the result was a notification from the Department of Consumer Protection and Defense of the Ministry of Justice, due to complaints of privacy violations. According to the DPDC, the tool increases the exposure of users' images, allowing them to identify their friends in photos posted in their personal albums. The Department also used arguments such as "evidence of the absence of user consent for the activation of the tool," "possible violation of privacy," and "unilateral modification without prior notice of the social network's terms of use." The company has ten days to provide clarifications.
On Thursday, the 9th, Facebook spokespeople apologized, as reported by some news agencies such as Reuters and BBC, acknowledging that they should have warned users about the implementation of the new tool. "We should have been clearer with people during the process to make the service accessible." The feature was launched in the United States last December, also automatically, but before activating it, the company published a notice on [website/platform name - implied]. your official blog explaining to Americans how to disable the service, which was not done this time. Recently, the social network updated the December note on this page, but did not warn that the tool is activated automatically, and that to disable it, the user must change their account settings.
Security firms The Register and Sophos criticize Facebook's initiative, arguing that it allows a user's friends to identify them – to create tags, in the network's terminology – without consent. In Europe, the change was also poorly received. According to the newspaper El País, authorities from a European privacy advocacy group expressed concern that the social network introduced the tool without prior notice and activated it automatically. Facebook issued an official statement claiming it contains explanations to help users disable the tool. Europe has not opened a formal investigation into the matter, but some local media outlets do not rule out the possibility of doing so.
On Facebook's facial recognition tool, users who post a photo on the network have their friends automatically identified. Until now, this process was done manually by clicking on people's faces. To automatically recognize faces, the site uses a technology that identifies users previously tagged in other images posted on the network. To avoid being recognized in other members' photos, you need to access the "privacy settings" option in the site's menu, "customize settings," click on "suggest my photos to friends," go to "edit settings," and finally choose "Off," then confirm.
The social network is already facing criticism for collecting users' personal data and selling it to companies, contributing to their advertising. In a recent meeting in the United States, security policymakers stated that this practice – also carried out by Apple and Google – needs to end. These companies collect information such as users' location through mobile applications, among other resources.