Slashdot Mirror
Facebook Disables Face Recognition In EU
SquarePixel writes "Facebook has disabled face recognition features on its site for all new European users. The move follows privacy recommendations made by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. Tag Suggest information has been turned off for new users, and Facebook plans to delete the information for existing EU users by October 15th. 'The DPC says today’s report (PDF) is the result of evaluations it made through the first half of 2012 and on-site at Facebook’s HQ in Dublin over the course of two days in May and four in July. The DPC says FB has made just about all of the improvements it requested in five key areas: better transparency for the user in how their data is handled; user control over settings; more clarity on the retention periods for the deletion of personal data, and users getting more control over deleting things; an improvement in how users can access their personal data; and the ability of Facebook to be able to better track how they are complying with data protection requirements.'"
Other countries should get a clue before they lose what privacy they have left. It's not an obsolete concept just because the execs of the companies that stand to profit most from your personal info say so. Facial recognition technology is one of the biggest threats to privacy.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Now, how about the same for the USA?
Ok, Europe's solved a relatively minor problem hostorically -- evil corporations tracking you.
Now you need to tackle the other 99.99% of the historical problem, billions-of-needless-deathswise, and stop government from facial recognition, and license plate recognition, and so on and automated assembly into tracking databases.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I just logged in to Facebook and changed my home to Dublin, Ireland.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
As long as other users have access to the feature, it will continue to be a privacy problem wouldn't it?
The article isn't very clear about this either.
My thoughts exactly. I really don't care about a big evil corporation knowing where I've been, my religion, what I weigh, who I have sex with, etc. If anything, the more they know about me, the more likely that they will make products I want to buy.
However, the government knowing all of those things is actually something to be concerned about.
I think it is quite a marketing feat by the EU: Make it appear that they are strong defenders of privacy by being ruthless in protecting the privacy of consumers, while implementing far worse privacy breaches on their own citizens.
Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
Excuse my ignorance, but I don't have have myself an Facebook account. What is exactly good for? I don't chat, I usually prefer to talk to friends over a beer. I share pictures over Picasa. So what value would an Facebook account add for someone? Thank you.
Now just wait for Google Image to recognize what's on pictures...
Except that once corporations collect the information it becomes available to governments.
Assange called Facebook "The most abominable spying-machine created in all of human history". I'm inclined to think that he was right about that, since U.S. 3 letter agencies seem to have bought special software that crawls sites like Facebook to collect as much data/information about each person as possible. -------- The EU did the right thing here. Suckerberg can't be trusted with anybody's privacy. -------- Now if only I could live to see the day when people voluntarily delete their profiles off Facebook, and use alternate services that aren't as intrusive...
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
Well at least Europe are trying. Have the US done anything about regulating facial and license plate recognition (the only 2 examples you give)?
Many would argue that the US is at the forefront of privacy invasion, and that any international debate on the topic would be welcome.
The EU aren't capable of "marketing" to anybody. Or aggregating data to suit their own ends.
If a corporation knows, you might as well assume that the relevant nation/group of nations knows too.
Giving up privacy to a company in the hope that they might not give their data to a law enforcement agency is stupid - is that really still an issue for debate?
We have the right to record things in public. That means we can freely follow and track other people. Pretty soon everyone with be walking around with a camera on their person. The camera will tie into a computer and will be able to take clues from the environment as well as to record everything that happens within a two day period. Where did I leave my keys? Just rewind...
So are we going to take away the right to record in public? What happens when devices will be able to record directly from our brain activity? Is everyone going to have the equivalent of copyright to their own images? Is everyone going to be forced to forget everyone else and submit to memory wipe everyday as a result of a DMCA like forget notification?
When it comes to location and tracking on that point we have to surrender. There is no way to put that genie back in the bottle. And to me when anyone in the pubic can do it I see no reason the government couldn't do it as well. That cat is simply out of the bag.
As I've always been suspicious of Facebook-style sites I would never do such.
What made me really worried is the in the mail named persons I could get in touch with would I set up an account, a whole string of my private and business acquaintances all over the world were listed, how the HELL did they amass this on a non-member???
Because I'm pretty sure my sister has not listed this string of acquaintances that are not even likely to know each other...
I am sick of this CIA/KGB style site!
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
It is most definitely at the forefront of privacy invasion, with the possible exception of California whose Attorney-General takes Californian privacy laws - the tightest in the US - seriously.
on of the things Facebook likes to do is Yoink your address book/contacts list from your email service so i would bet that somebody on that list allowed the address book yoink and then got X folks to sign up and some of them allowed the Yoink (Facebook at this stage cross references and dedupes the addresses). Now that it has gotten to YOU Facebook has noticed that %list% has YOU listed.
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
New york IIRC had one. Some might be on their way to be overturned by the supreme court (or they might not be). Furthermore I would rather see boobies and forbid violence/certain form of speech, you (the US) would rather scream murder if halfa tit is shown but have no problem with ultra violence and widespread gun weapon. Well maybe we could agree that our culture is different and neither is better than the others ?
If anything, the more they know about me, the more likely that they will make products I want to buy.
The more they know about you, the more they can manipulate you to create wants you never had before.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
You've had a "shadow profile" on Facebook for years. They've been making shadow profiles since nearly the start, IIRC.
So they know all about you - your dear friends' Facebook activity and uploading of email lists and addresses etc has fleshed your profile out quite well already.
This makes it very easy when you join Facebook - you can just look at the "Suggested friends" list and find nearly everyone you know...
Privacy wise? Crazy. Fucked up.
Posting anonymously not to undo my mod on your post ;-)
I really don't care about a big evil corporation knowing where I've been, my religion, what I weigh, who I have sex with, etc. If anything, the more they know about me, the more likely that they will make products I want to buy.
However, the government knowing all of those things is actually something to be concerned about.
Funny, my view is the exact opposite. I'm shocked if I lose a private document and the government archives don't have a backup. On the other hand, I'm endlessly annoyed by all kinds of merchants trying to get under my skin all the time.
My government is not out to get me. The corporations are.
No, it also applies in the countries that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA). That's the EU and most of EFTA. We're a few small countries, but we're not members of the EU. The FTA means the same laws apply within the EEA (27+3).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area
My thoughts exactly. I really don't care about a big evil corporation knowing where I've been, my religion, what I weigh, who I have sex with, etc. If anything, the more they know about me, the more likely that they will make products I want to buy.
However, the government knowing all of those things is actually something to be concerned about.
The biggest problems seem to be 1) disclosure of information and 2) malicious action based on the information. In a democratic society, both companies and government have to follow the law, and there are serious repercussions if they don't.
The potential for (1) is about the same for both, but the actions in (2) are worse for the government: they can put you in jail, while the worst thing companies can do is to collude to raise prices just for you or deny you some service. We're not discussing the actions, however, but the information itself. Companies can disclose incriminating information to government at will, using the police as its tool to do evil.
It should be noted that there is a real difference: government can collect information by force (or by law), but you can often avoid tracking from companies. It can even deny others to do the same tracking (like in this story, though I'd say that data anlaysis and correlation is never the real problem). That is a separate discussion, though
That's both true and just part of the whole truth.
While it may be legally required in the EU, it may also be required in the EEA (EU+3). Even then it is often applied in all of the European countries (EU/EEA/non-EU), it's easier for companies that way (see Facebook).
It would appear you don't know the difference between the EU and EEA or how companies apply these laws Europe-wide regardless of requirements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area
but justified. It's simple really. some European countries (Ireland notably) are freedom loving. The EU perhaps isn't. There's a clash of policy. I'm sure FB (and their US and Uk government buddies) would relish the idea of more of their style of control.
As for face masks, they're only taboo in places with a large Muslim immigrant base.
We don't get to the bottom-line as much in Europe. We're naiive to the full implications of policy, but that's often because we don't have the same malicious intent...
How? My wants haven't changed in decades, so they're clearly not doing a very good job! And I see tons of ads. Some of us are just intelligent enough to evaluate our actions before doing something (Admitting that doesn't make someone more vulnerable, but becoming complacent might.).
Until they get caught not doing what they were told to the last time this time.
Jack of all trades,master of none
My government is not out to get me. The corporations are.
If you look closely, the demographic of people that are caused problems by the government is quite different from that which is most negatively effected by corporations. The words "criminal" and "weak-minded" I would use to label these two groups are far from perfect but are easy to argue for and give a decent rough idea of the people one would find in each. I would expect to find far more members of slashdot in the first group than the second yet comments seem to be divided 50:50 on this topic.
Could it be that there are many here for whom corporations and their manipulative advertising don't effect the people concerned about them here in any significant way but more indirectly, harming family and friends?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
However, the government knowing all of those things is actually something to be concerned about.
WTFF!??? Do you think there's any information held by corporations that the government cannot get their hands on immediately? FFS! Once the technology is there, the government can authorize itself to do more with that information than any single corporation and be more intrusive. Wow about wiretapping? I bet telcos would be happy to have software eavesdrop on your conversations and spam you with appropriate ads, if they were legally allowed to. Not to mention that the government has the power to combine the data gathered by competing corporations that would never hand it over to each other. You're naive if you think your data is safer from government intrusion in the hands of corporations than directly in the hands of government. I prefer letting as few parties as possible have information about me and whilst stopping government from having it, is impossible once a corporation has gathered it, measures like these at least restrict it somewhat - not only the fact that one corporation is prevented from having that data but also that their incentives to develop such technology for profit, are smaller.
by being ruthless in protecting the privacy of consumers, while implementing far worse privacy breaches on their own citizens.
Care to point some out?
Seems you are better informed than me, which privacy breaches are the european governments planning?
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Doing, not planning:
http://www.justfuckinggoogleit.com/search.pl?query=european+citizen+surveillance
Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
Before refering other people to google you should google yourself.
The search terms you proposed don't bring up anything relevant, YFYI.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Europeans they still dump literal buckets of raw sewage into putrid ditches right the middle of their roads which were initially intended to capture horse manure, but have since evolved into a sort of catch-all household sewage run-off drainage system. Most Europeans care about nothing more than fellatio, cheese, wine and socialism. They are a bunch of yellow-toothed cheese-munching surrender - monkeys with no other purpose in life than to destroy freedom and democracy. Please for the love of Jesus, don't let those Euro-peeons get away with this atrocious anti-American behavior.