A number of media outlets have been reporting that the European Union is investigating Facebook’s rollout of its new face-recognition photo-tagging system. Mashable reported that the new feature “recognizes” faces in photos, which enables users to connect a face in a photo to a user in a much easier “semi-automated process.” More specifically, Facebook provides suggestions for individuals in photos, and the user chooses to either accept or reject them. The feature is now enabled by default, though it can be disabled by altering an account’s privacy settings.
The New York Times reported that, on Wednesday, European Union data protection regulators announced that they would investigate the feature. Gérard Lommel, a Luxembourg member of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, stated “tags of people on pictures should only happen based on people’s prior consent and it can’t be activated by default.” He went on to note that tagging suggestions “can bear a lot of risks for users.” In an emailed statement, Facebook noted that it “launched Tag Suggestions to help people add tags of their friends in photos; something that’s currently done more than 100 million times a day. Tag suggestions are only made to people when they add new photos to the site, and only friends are suggested.” Meanwhile, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, based in Washington, is working on its complaint and is expected to file it with the FTC today.
The privacy concerns associated with the new face-recognition feature are generally obvious. Individuals should have a say in whether and where their photographic image is distributed. Once a photo enters the digital domain, it is difficult if not impossible to “undo” that publication. A photo that one user deems harmless fun, may not appear that way to the subject’s employer. Although Facebook users could already tag photos manually, this feature encourages tagging. Further, it would appear to make it easier for users to tag photos of distant “friends,” a concern given the fact that some users have hundreds or even thousands of “friends” that they may know little to nothing about. Moreover, being able to associate a face with a name would make it easier to gain additional information on individuals, such as an address.
Once your identity is confirmed, the legal implications are seemingly endless. Computerworld.com reports that legal service via Facebook, for documents such as paternity and restraining orders, is becoming more popular internationally, in countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Indeed, service via Facebook may soon be acceptable in the United States. Computerworld.com quoted Joseph DeMarco, co-chair of the American Bar Association's criminal justice cyber-crime committee and a lawyer at New York-based DeVore & DeMarco, as noting that he considered service via Facebook a “useful tool.” Photographs linked to a user’s account would only serve to strengthen an argument that service was properly perfected. It will be interesting to see whether Facebook caves to international pressure to turn off the new face-recognition feature as a default setting. Regardless of the outcome, the proliferation of this type of technology is likely to continue.