If you’re not like me and actually care about the notifications you get from your social media profiles, you’ll probably relate to the feeling of surprise when you suddenly get tagged in a photo from a few years ago from a friend in what was probably not the most flattering time of your life. You can’t even blame your soon to be former friend for tagging you in, because it’s something which Facebook was able to do all on its own.
There’s a certain level of creepiness in this feature that could perhaps make some people uneasy, which is why Facebook is going to make facial recognition in photos opt-in by default according to a new report from The Verge. Facebook indicates that once made available to users in the worldwide rollout, they’ll receive a notice about it in their newsfeed and be given the option to turn it on from that notice.
Notably, if you don’t make a choice, Face Recognition will remain switched off with new users also having facial recognition left off by default with a new option available in the settings menu to switch it on. I’d be interested to see just how many people actually do turn this on or if privacy will win out on this one.
Along with the change, Facebook has also been told to make its use of facial recognition technology more open and so will also let users know when facial recognition is getting performed on a photo so that there shouldn’t be any unexpected surprises. The good news is that the ability to untag yourself from photos should friends still tag you in, will remain, as will the option to ask to have it taken down by Facebook. The disgrace of unflattering photos of you living on in the world though is something that you will have to live with.
Or just find a new set of friends entirely.
Last Updated: September 4, 2019
Admiral Chief
September 4, 2019 at 13:03
The overlords will not be happy about this
Yahtzee
September 4, 2019 at 13:03
Wait a minute… I have been out of the Facebook game for years.
This thing had face recognition running by default. Why is the world not going aapkak yet!?!
Pariah
September 4, 2019 at 13:11
It recognises that there’s a face and asks if you’d like to tag someone. It’s been doing that for YEARS. What it doesn’t do is recognise that it’s YOUR face.
Yahtzee
September 4, 2019 at 13:03
Wait a minute… I have been out of the Facebook game for years.
This thing had face recognition running by default. Why is the world not going aapkak yet!?!
Stoompot
September 4, 2019 at 13:03
Good, tired of saying yes that is my face.
Son of Banana Jim
September 5, 2019 at 08:33
lol, I say “no, that’s not my face”. I like to confuse the AI. I do this especially for Google’s image service.
Original Heretic
September 4, 2019 at 13:12
Ugh, getting new friends is too much of a chore. Too many assholes in the world.
That one in the mirror, that one pisses me off the most.
…
…
And now I’m asking myself the question, ” Why are you looking at your asshole in the mirror?”
I’m leaving now….
Admiral Chief
September 4, 2019 at 14:40
That’s nuts
Son of Banana Jim
September 5, 2019 at 08:24
They already have mountains of biometric data to keep law enforcement and unsavoury Facebook data miners happy for decades to come, and WE provided it freely, lol!