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Facebook Judge Frowns on Bid To Toss Biometric Face Print Suit (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the keep-the-fight-alive dept.

Facebook faced a skeptical judge over its second request to get out of a lawsuit alleging its photo scanning technology flouts users' privacy rights. From a report: "The right to say no is a valuable commodity," U.S. District Judge James Donato said Thursday during a hearing in San Francisco. The case concerns the "most personal aspects of your life: your face, your fingers, who you are to the world." The owner of the world's largest social network faces claims that it violated the privacy of millions of users by gathering and storing biometric data without their consent. Alphabet's Google is fighting similar claims in federal court in Chicago.

16 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. And this... by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

    ...is reason #31678956784789.8 why I'll never use their stupid Facebook apps. Force the issue, and I cease to go near the site at all.

    Bad enough my family pretty much requires that I have an account on that damnable website in the first place, but I tolerate it just enough at this point. The only reason I (and I suspect quite a few others) still tolerate it is because (for now) I still maintain a modicum of control over the experience (viz. ad-blockers and such via web browser).

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    1. Re:And this... by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      ...is reason #31678956784789.8 why I'll never use their stupid Facebook apps. Force the issue, and I cease to go near the site at all.

      Bad enough my family pretty much requires that I have an account on that damnable website in the first place, but I tolerate it just enough at this point. The only reason I (and I suspect quite a few others) still tolerate it is because (for now) I still maintain a modicum of control over the experience (viz. ad-blockers and such via web browser).

      Coming Soon!
      In order to provide the best service to our customers* you must use our app to access this content.
      *the advertisers

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    2. Re:And this... by KiloByte · · Score: 1

      I don't think a guy named Adolfo Hitlero from Antarctica, whose face looks remarkably like a cat's ass, and who connects over Tor, is going to reduce my privacy.

      (I don't even remember the login name of any of such accounts, though, and there was no reason for me to even look at Facebook for years.)

      This said, while the likes of us might be willing and able to expend all this effort to preserve our privacy, 99.99% of users don't know how to do so even if they wanted. And that's why such kinds of tracking must be made illegal by default.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    3. Re:And this... by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      You know, the "People you may know..." feature may have some interesting suggestions Adolfo...

      Adolfo, do you know "Doganus Testiclees" from Concordia Station?

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    4. Re:And this... by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

      ... it's becoming very clear the app is where all the bad stuff is happening ...

      Plenty of bad stuff is happening on Facebook in your browser too, unless your browser is running on read-only media and you access the Web only via a VPN. As the AC below said, "just say no".

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  2. Re:Aren't genitals more personal than your face, e by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Guess Facebook should start requiring you upload pictures of your genitals as well as your face...oh wait

  3. Re:Aren't genitals more personal than your face, e by gnick · · Score: 1

    While your face, your fingers, and who you are to the world are indeed all quite personal, I would think that one's genitals are even more personal.

    If somebody posts a picture of my genitals online, it's far less likely to be associated with me personally than if somebody posts a picture of my face.

    I'm not trying to say that my face is the "most personal aspect of my life," but it's more personal than a picture of my junk. If FB scanned, identified, and labeled my genitals as "gnick's junk," that would be different.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  4. Re:What is FB? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 2

    FB and social media are only a scourge because hundreds of millions of users allow them to be. Just like certain presidents in the White House - past and present - they're not a problem, they're a symptom: they're a reflection of what society wants, and society is dumb as a brick.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  5. Re:They're right by sjames · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wrong. I have no Facebook account. I never clicked through their wall of text. But I may or may not have ever been tagged in a photo uploaded to Facebook. It's hard to say since I don't have a Facebook account.

  6. Re:FUCK ZUCKERBERG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Fuckerberg?

  7. Re:Aren't genitals more personal than your face, e by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Goats?

  8. Just one question... by sconeu · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did they face scan the judge's frown for biometric purposes?

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  9. Re:They're right by sjames · · Score: 1

    That depends on which shade of expect you are using. I expect them to obey the law and behave in a civil manner. I believe actually that they'll behave as well as the mustache twirling villain in an old cartoon if allowed to.

  10. Re:No account, no tag? by sjames · · Score: 1

    I know at least a child can be tagged in a "scrapbook" without them having an account. Who knows about others.

  11. Re:They're right by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

    Sunglasses, especially mirrored, and hats are your friends.

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  12. Re:They're right by Agripa · · Score: 1

    Wear clothing printed with the EURion constellation. Or maybe QR codes with SQL exploits.