With Facebook automatically turning on automated facial recognition photo-tagging we knew it was only a matter of time before governmental investigations were launched and now we have learned that the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party in the European Union have launched an inquiry to determine if the social networks new feature goes against current privacy rules.
With Facebook rolling out the “Tag Suggestions” program internationally they did step up this week and tell various news sources that:
“We should have been more clear with people during the roll-out process when this became available to them.”
According to AllThingsD, the network’s users currently tag more than 100 million photos daily.
An issue arises however when the program asks a users friends to tag them in photos, pushing the users photos onto their friends to be tagged at will.
If you want to stop Facebook facial recognition tagging on your profile you can follow our Facial Recognition Privacy Tutorial.
The EU may have already found a champion for their cause in Google when Board Member Eric Schmidt announced at D9 last week that the company would not approach facial recognition technology simply because it’s “creepy.”
