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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.
Wanna see where this end up? Black Mirror, season 3, episode 1: Nosedive
Mr Coward seems to be forgetting that the world extends slightly beyond the peripheries of the northern Atlantic.
I'm in Brazil at the moment, and got a message from Facebook today telling me it was on by default. Although as I'm actually European, it makes me wonder how Facebook decides which locale's rules to apply to my profile. Does it automatically opt you in to everything it can as soon as you login from a location with weaker protections?