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Facebook Silently Enables Facial Recognition Abilities For Users Outside EU, Canada (neowin.net)
Facebook is now informing users around the world that it's rolling out facial recognition features. Users in the European Union and Canada will not be notified because laws restrict this type of activity in those areas. Neowin reports: With the new tools, you'll be able to find photos that you're in but haven't been tagged in; they'll help you protect yourself against strangers using your photo; and Facebook will be able to tell people with visual impairments who's in their photos and videos. By default, Facebook warns that this feature is enabled but can be switched off at any time; additionally, the firm says it may add new capabilities at any time. In its initial statement, Facebook said the following about the impersonation protections it was introducing: "We want people to feel confident when they post pictures of themselves on Facebook so we'll soon begin using face recognition technology to let people know when someone else uploads a photo of them as their profile picture. We're doing this to prevent people from impersonating others on Facebook."
Facebook used to be a digital Rolodex of aggravating people you'd rather send an occasional birthday card than speak to in person, but in the last 7 years it's shaping up to become new societal piss-test for everything from dating to employment. Now you can look forward to not only being ostracized for your lack of facebook participation, but actively chastised for it when facebook identifies you as a friend/coworker/acquaintance in someone elses account.
with facebooks mandatory facial recognition it soon wont matter if you avoid the site at all, theyll just build and publish a profile of you anyway.
Good people go to bed earlier.
they'll help you protect yourself against strangers using your photo
I don't like facial recognition. But I do like stopping people from using photos of me. It sure is nice of facebook...to offer to protect us...from facebook. All they need in return is a little more intrusion. Well played facebook. Well played. Even shifted the blame to other users.
The feature is disabled by default. Users must opt in for facial recognition to be turned on.
And if you believe that, I have a few bridges to sell you. This garbage is always on, always enabled. You only opting to not see it. It's still there. All our faces are stored in their databases. I've never uploaded a picture of myself to Facebook, EVER, and it still fucking has my face, when others have uploaded pictures with me in them, it knows who I am. Even when closed my account, in 2009, it still knows and attaches the id to the face, should anyone upload something with me in it.
Even more disturbing, when I reopened an account under a pseudoname to participate in a contest on Second Life, it pretty quickly figured out who I am, and started recommending I friend all the people I used to have as friends. Super creepy.
My solution? I let my mother use my account to play farmville and accumulate a bunch of nonsense friends to muddy the waters. I don't even use the account anymore, haven't in years.
when others have uploaded pictures with me in them, it knows who I am.
Because they tag you, you poor dingbat.
"Old man yells at systemd"