Guest Post by: Jo Stratmann
Now might be a good time to check your Facebook privacy settings as it appears that Facebook has rolled out its new auto facial recognition feature without giving users any notice.
So what happens with this new facial recognition technology?
Basically every time your friends upload images, Facebook will try to determine if any of the pictures look like you. And if they find what they believe to be a match, they may well urge one of your Facebook friends to tag it with your name.
So the tagging is still done by your friends and not by Facebook; the element that some deem to be creepy though is that Facebook is now actually pushing your friends to go ahead and tag you.
What’s more, Facebook does not give you any right to pre-approve tags so it’s up to you as a user to untag yourself if you are tagged by a friend. And that’s often after you’ve been tagged.
If the new facial recognition technology is something you’re uncomfortable with you “opt out” by disabling the “Suggest photos of me to friends” option, which can be found by going to Facebook account’s privacy settings and then “Customize settings”.
So what do you think about Facebook’s facial recognition privacy settings? Creepy or clever? Or both?
Image courtesy of X journals
Original Post: http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2011/06/facebook-facial-recognition-and-opt-out-privacy-settings/