Facebook Wants All Profile Photos For Its Face Recognition Database

Facebook is thinking about adding profile pictures of every single one of its 1.1 billion users to a face recognition database, in order to be used in the “Tag Suggest” feature. Users who don’t want their pictures to be included will have to manually opt out.

At the moment, “Tag Suggest” can only compare newly uploaded photos to the ones where the user has already been tagged.

Facebook’s face recognition was disabled in Europe less than a year after being introduced in 2011, following an investigation by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland.

The social network has also proposed new data policies which would allow it to use almost all user-generated content for advertising purposes.

Face recognition book

The “Tag Suggest” feature was launched in the US in 2010 to automatically identify faces on photos and suggests relevant tags. Those not happy with the photos could subsequently untag themselves. In 2011, Facebook switched it on by default for the rest of the world, without informing social network users.

This sudden introduction angered European customers, while in the US, “Tag Suggest” was criticised by both privacy advocates and Congress members. In September 2012, Facebook decided to shut down face recognition in the EU to comply with Irish and European data protection laws. However, by then it had already bought the developer behind the technology, Face.com, and brought it in-house.

Facebook’s chief privacy officer Erin Egan told Reuters that far from invading user’s privacy, the addition of profile pictures would actually improve control of personal information: “Our goal is to facilitate tagging so that people know when there are photos of them on our service.”

Google+ also employs similar technology, but requires user consent in advance.

Egan also confirmed that Facebook reserves the right to use the face recognition database for any future features or products, but insisted the social network would provide “transparency” and “control”.

On Thursday, Facebook also proposed changes to its Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which suggest that everything users do with or post to Facebook will be available to advertisers. “You give us permission to use your name, profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content,” reads the proposal.

“This means, for example, that you permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you.”

The new conditions were drawn up as a response to the Sponsored Stories class action lawsuit, in which Facebook had to pay out $20 million for using customers’ names and likenesses in advertising campaigns without their consent.

The social network is currently collecting feedback on the proposals, but whatever the result, the updates are scheduled to take effect on 5 September.

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