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Facebook's New Captcha Test: 'Upload A Clear Photo of Your Face' (wired.com)

Posted by msmash on from the yay-or-nay dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Facebook may soon ask you to "upload a photo of yourself that clearly shows your face," to prove you're not a bot. The company is using a new kind of captcha to verify whether a user is a real person. According to a screenshot of the identity test shared on Twitter on Tuesday and verified by Facebook, the prompt says: "Please upload a photo of yourself that clearly shows your face. We'll check it and then permanently delete it from our servers." The process is automated, including identifying suspicious activity and checking the photo. To determine if the account is authentic, Facebook looks at whether the photo is unique.

36 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. WHY? by tripleevenfall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why do Facebook, Apple, and others thing public information (like what your face looks like) is more secure than a private key that exists only in your mind?

    1. Re:WHY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because they want to build a comprehensive and, more importantly, up to date image of what you look like for their facial recognition software.

      I'm sure there's some guy out there who gets a massive boner when he thinks about with one hi-res crowd shot of people they can pull sophisticated buying demographics to sell to advertisers.

    2. Re:WHY? by religionofpeas · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And in this case, FB isn't interested in adding security to your account, they just want a new way to prove that it is a person behind the account instead of a robot. Nothing to do with security.

      We're already at the point where a computer can generate unlimited artificial faces that are good enough to fool such a system:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      I guess it has nothing to do with security, but rather with building a database of people, or analyzing your facial features and linking them to your preferences.

    3. Re: WHY? by Narcocide · · Score: 2

      He belongs to neither political party. He's a paid astro-turfer and his only goal is to hilariously cause the exact divisiveness he's pretending to rail against.

    4. Re:WHY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Also they want your location data from photo so they can match you to nearby people.

      I wish there was an option to remove exif when uploading photos from album...

    5. Re: WHY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It wasn't the right wing that came up with the LGBTQI2SGMARHN+ concept. They aren't the ones pushing 87 different genders. They aren't the ones spending decades in college obsessing over race, and gender, and sexual preference, and other ways to classify people. The right wing is far less divisive than the left wing.

    6. Re:WHY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      There can be only one correct image of Jesus. (SFW, unless you work in a bowling alley)

    7. Re: WHY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Because lumping hundreds of millions of people under one label and then assigning specific traits to that group is a great idea, right? You dumb fucks on "either side" can't seem to understand basic goddamn fucking logic. All you dumb shits do is farm red herrings and manufacture straw men. Feminazis and religitards are both shitheads; you're just swimming in different flavored pools of mental feces while claiming your pool doesn't smell like rank sulfur-swirling ass gravy. The world would be a better place if all of you intellectually bankrupt ideologically blinded retards died in a very large yet very specific fire.

      Fuck you, fuck them, fuck it all.

      And just because Slashdot doesn't like it, I'm going to use the word nîggers. I loves my black people, but I hates my nìggas.

    8. Re:WHY? by torkus · · Score: 2

      They will delete the image and keep a one-way hash of it.

      They can then log those hashes and, if they see one repeat then they know something fishy is going on. The data level of the hashing determines if they reject after a single match or if they're looking for multiple matches before they consider it a duplicate login attempt.

      It's actually a pretty inventive way to prevent bots if you have the data processing capability ... and FB/Google/Amazon types DO have it. If you add in some facial recognition you can even help ensure the person logging in belongs on the account (this is good and bad and likely would be optional if they had a brain).

      With that said, fuck no I'm not helping their other AI algos they are likely planning to use this data for and an even bigger fuck no to giving them that level of invasive, pervasive view into my life. You aren't going to data mine the background for more reasons to sell targeted adds on my screen.

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
    9. Re:WHY? by TangoMargarine · · Score: 2

      So you just apply a filter to the photo that adds a little random visual noise to the data, and everybody can still use the same photo.

      --
      Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
    10. Re:WHY? by infolation · · Score: 2

      A dusting of andom noise does not fool facial recognition. Features extraction for hashing uses wavelet image processing (among other processes). Splitting the data into different frequency ranges allows the algorithm to isolate the frequency components (introduced by factors like expression or illumination) into sub-bands. Wavelet-based methods strip out these variables and focus on the sub-bands that contain the most relevant information.

  2. No thanks by Arkham · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I get closer and closer to deleting Facebook permanently every day.

    --
    - Vincit qui patitur.
    1. Re:No thanks by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      I know a lot of people that have deleted their facebook account. A few go back after a short while, the rest say they're happier without it.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:No thanks by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Informative

      You can get banned by the Facebook censors over a mild disagreement on some non-controversial subject just because it contradicts whatever the Facebook group think is.

      No need for trolling, flaming, insults, or anything remotely offensive.

      The platform is ultimately self limiting.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    3. Re:No thanks by Oligonicella · · Score: 4, Insightful

      because it contradicts whatever the Facebook group think is

      You left off the important part.

    4. Re:No thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      do you actually believe that it was deleted? Its more likely that they move that information to a secondary database that isnt referenced by their forward database that the public version of facebook sees. After all they already have shadow profiles, what makes you think that they would just delete all of that succulent information on your self instead of transferring it to your shadow profile.

      I bet if you used the same email address to sign up again that your entire friends list from the previous account would be in suggested friends.

    5. Re:No thanks by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      It has metadata from facebook cookies and trackers all over the web.

      Just the same as for people who have never used facebook at all.

    6. Re: No thanks by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      Why would you ever want that? Virtual stalking?

      Mostly for people who use facebook as their only way to announce stuff.

  3. Obviously by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Informative

    They can't determine if a photo is unique unless they don't really delete the photo from their servers. (They probably keep a "fingerprint" of the photo, which would be the most valuable part for spying on people anyway.)

    1. Re:Obviously by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      Where "fingerprint" means "the original photo"

    2. Re:Obviously by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      They can't determine if a photo is unique unless they don't really delete the photo from their servers. (They probably keep a "fingerprint" of the photo, which would be the most valuable part for spying on people anyway.)

      How difficult is it to slightly modify a picture of a face to make a new "fingerprint". This sounds less about security and more about personal invasion.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Obviously by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

      They can't determine if a photo is unique unless they don't really delete the photo from their servers. (They probably keep a "fingerprint" of the photo, which would be the most valuable part for spying on people anyway.)

      How difficult is it to slightly modify a picture of a face to make a new "fingerprint". This sounds less about security and more about personal invasion.

      Probably as a way to increase their ability to automatically tag/identify you in other photos.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    4. Re:Obviously by omnichad · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This. They're probably going to point a neural network at this face-fingerprint data and train their auto-tagger. Right now, bad lighting or an odd angle will throw off the automatic face recognition.

  4. Hi, we've lied repeatedly before but this time... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Jeez.

    Facebook has been caught lying and engaging in dubious behavior dozens of times and the founder says you have no right to privacy (but zealously protects his own privacy).

    Wake UP!

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  5. Clash of the bots... by Freischutz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm going to enjoy seeing that thing clash with this one: https://tech.slashdot.org/stor...

  6. HAHA by Narcocide · · Score: 2

    Reporter: Thus solving the problem once and for all.
    Little girl: But...
    Reporter: ONCE AND FOR ALL!

  7. Facebook closed my account over this by cstacy · · Score: 5, Interesting
    My FB account had about six "friends" on it: immediate family members. Didn't ever post anything or upload any information, just looked at photos they posted, pressed Like sometimes, and occasional IMs. I got this "upload a photo" roadblock, although it also said it was going to compare it to my Profile photo to make sure it was me. I didn't have any Profile photo, of course, so that's bullshit. Tried logging in three more times over the course of three weeks. Yesterday tried again, but the account has gone from suspended to terminated.

    They said it was for "suspicious activity". (Of which of course there was none.)
    I say it was because I failed to upload content for them to monetize.
    Interesting business decision.

  8. Take a photo of the chic your stalking by wolfheart111 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Then upload it to facebook and get access to the account? Is that how this works?

    --
    [($)]
  9. But can FB reconstruct a hashed photo? by billrp · · Score: 2

    TFA says FB will hash an image and then delete the original. But to implement a similarity metric with previous "hashed" images of the same person, they will need a distance function that works on hashed values of all the photo's features that they capture. Unless they have conquered homomorphic encryption, FB will likely need to reverse the hashed features and then do similarity measures with previous photos, and will also be able to reconstruct "deleted" photos.

  10. so, um... by Kierthos · · Score: 2

    Yeah, fine, this is meant to stop bots. Whatever.

    What's keeping me from uploading a picture of someone else if I'm asked to? More to the point, how do they know it's a picture of me?

    Same applies to bots. Yes, I'm completely and earnestly sincere in my belief that this will wholly stop bots from placing advertisements. At least until the people that run the bot networks find a workaround. You know, just like with other CAPTCHA methods.

    I'm certain that Facebook has taken into consideration that people who run bot networks certainly would never use stock photos, online yearbook photos, or hell, pay people in a Third World shithole pennies to get a photo of them.

    --
    Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
  11. First My Phone Number, Now This? by Tempest_2084 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Facebook kept badgering me for years to give them my phone number 'just in case' to which I repeatedly said no. Finally they stopped bugging me about it and all was good for a few weeks. Then I got a new notice that said 'help verify that this is your number and keep your account up to date'. Lo and behold that was indeed my phone number, but I never gave it to them. I don't know where they scraped it from, but they got it. That left me creeped out for a long time and I considered closing my account. In the end I kept it, but I watched what I posted and really dropped my usage. If I get this prompt I'll drop it completely. I'm not a social media junkie, so I'll live. In fact the only reason I'm still on it is for a few interest groups that I'm involved with who moved to FB (terrible decision) and so my family can tell me who died and who had a kid. Both of which I could live without.

  12. Kodachrome by jabberw0k · · Score: 4, Funny

    A new photo of me? I'll have to wait a week to get this film developed, and then go to Walgreens to have it scanned so I can put it on a usb stick to bring it home. Right sure.

  13. Easily automated by HalAtWork · · Score: 2

    What exactly is stopping anyone from uploading them photos that were morphed between two existing images? This can easily be automated.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  14. Re:Reed-Solomon Anyone? by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

    They don't need to keep your photo. They have no use for it.
    What they have a use for is training their recognition algorithms to be able to recognise you in any picture.
    That's going to help them further enhance your profile from pictures and videos other people upload. Even if they don't tag you, or even know you.

  15. Dear Facebook by nuckfuts · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here is a recent photograph of my naked ass. Please apply lip marks and return it to me for verification.

  16. All those people who modeled for stock photos... by dizzy8578 · · Score: 2

    Will never get back in their account.

    --
    *"Cogito Ergo Liberalis"*