Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Facebook's Newest Privacy Problem: 'Faceprint' Data (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the privacy-woes dept.

Katie Collins, reporting for CNET: Facebook knows you so well these days that it can recognize you just by seeing your face. You may not have a problem with this, but that doesn't mean it's all good in the eyes of the law. The social network lost the first round of a lawsuit on Thursday in which it is accused of "unlawfully" storing biometric data mined from people's photographs. The company was seeking to have the suit dismissed, but a federal judge in California rejected the request. Facebook taps into its photo-tagging system to build up a geometric representation of people's faces to create something called a faceprint for each of its users. Faceprints are then used to suggest tags for people when new photos are uploaded to the network. One could argue that the clue is in the name, but many Facebook users probably don't know that they agree to having data about their face stored when they sign up.

2 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Stop. Using. Facebook. by Aethedor · · Score: 2, Informative

    Seriously people. Stop. Using. Facebook. It is really that simple!

    --
    It doesn't have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.
    1. Re:Stop. Using. Facebook. by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 4, Informative

      I don't use Facebook. That doesn't stop my friends from tagging my face when I'm in one of their photos which they post on Facebook.

      I solved this problem by telling my friends that if they ever "tag" me in a photo on Facebook, I'd come over to their house and beat their brains out with a baseball bat.

      They didn't believe me at first, but after 2 or 3 funerals, word got around.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...