The middle of last week, Facebook decided that you wanted your pictures automatically tagged, so that the rest of the world could see what you do when you’re not online.
In the dead of night, they flipped the switch on their “Facial Recognition” feature.
Facebook asked your friends to point you out in their pictures. As they are friendly, they did so, and now FB knows what you look like. Facebook’s propitiatory facial recognition software has begun scanning all pictures uploaded into itself and it will automatically tag you in pictures you didn’t even know about.
Remember your first party in college? Remember that time you skipped work and dressed up like a fairy? You’ll see the photographic memories soon enough.
Luckily, there’s a way to disable the feature, giving Facebook users a way to opt-out of the service. We made a video that will walk you through the steps.
Here goes:
While disabling this feature will ensure that your “friends” won’t be prompted by Facebook to tag you in photos they might otherwise not tag you in, disabling does not turn off the facial recognition software. We have not seen any mention from Facebook or any of the Social Media news outlets about how you can disable the software itself. It seems that the new facial-recognition aspect of the platform is here to stay, putting FB in direct opposition to Google. Google developed a similar type of software recently, but has so far refused to roll it out, citing privacy concerns. In the ongoing struggle of which company is going to control social interactions on the web in the next few years, FB’s embrace of facial recognition could be a deciding factor, particularly if it can avoid the ire of government officials.
What do you think about this new facial recognition software? Is it cause for concern, or a new type of service that will quickly be seen as the norm?
Post by Joe Robb
