OPINION:
Facebook, as many may or may not be aware, has launched a new facial recognition platform called Photo Review that gives an alert to those whose faces show up in new posts.
Why? Or better yet — remember PRISM?
First, the whys.
The alert is aimed at giving the owner of the face the option of then tagging their photos, leaving them alone — or filing a complaint with Facebook about unauthorized use of their faces.
As with most creepy technology, there is a positive intent. In this case, Facebook wants to give users a sense of confidence that their photos aren’t being floated around social media for wicked uses, or as means of impersonation. The flip side?
Privacy loss. Possible infiltration of marketers and targeted advertisers who exploit the backgrounds of the photos to guess locations, and therefore, personal preferences and products. And then there’s this, a headline from Gizmodo: “Facebook Wants Your Face and You’ll Probably Let Them Have It.”
That’s an apt summary of the creepiness factor the technology brings.
“The catch [of this technology], of course, is that you’ll have to authorize Facebook to access, store, and then match your face data with uploads across the site,” Gizmodo wrote.
And why’s it a catch?
Again, Gizmodo explains: “Privacy experts balk at the idea of giving face data to enormous companies like Apple and Facebook.”
Yes — because of this: The PRISM Project.
“Revealed,” blasted one Daily Mail headline from 2013. “Google and Facebook DID allow NSA to access data and were in talks to set up ’spying rooms’ despite denials by [Facebook’s Mark] Zuckerberg and [Google’s Larry] Page over PRISM project.”
PRISM was the National Security Agency’s black cloud surveillance project that roped in tens of thousands of social media users. In other words, it was the government’s means of spying on individuals through their social media sites — and it wasn’t just Google and Facebook. Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, YouTube, Skype, AOL and PalTalk were all involved, all complicit.
“The UK … had access to the PRISM data since at least 2010,” the Daily Mail wrote, in 2013. “Details of data collection were outlined in [a] classified 41-slide PowerPoint presentation that was leaked by [an] intelligence officer.”
And Facebook now wants users’ faces?
“So let’s be clear,” Gizmodo wrote. “Facebook has set up new privacy and security schemes that would guzzle up even more face data. The company should similarly scale up its transparency efforts and be even more forthcoming, particularly if this is being done to protect people from having their photos abused, as Facebook claims.”
Couldn’t say it better.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.