Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Privacy

Facebook Halts Facial Recognition in Europe

Facebook Ireland has disabled their tag suggestions, a feature that uses facial recognition technology, in order to comply with Irish Data Protection law, and by extension EU privacy laws. News of the change comes in a report published by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland last week.

Facebook Ireland has disabled their tag suggestions, a feature that uses facial recognition technology, in order to comply with Irish Data Protection law, and by extension EU privacy laws. News of the change comes in a report published by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland last week.

The report says that Facebook has implemented several “best practice” recommendations made to them by the Data Protection Commissioner, particularly in the areas of “better transparency for the user, better user control over settings, and clear retention periods for the deletion of personal data or an enhanced ability for the user to delete items.”

Also noted, was the user’s right to ready access to their personal data, and Facebook Ireland’s ability to self-audit their compliance with Irish and EU data protection requirements.

“I am particularly encouraged in relation to the approach it has decided to adopt on the tag suggest/facial recognition feature by in fact agreeing to go beyond our initial recommendations, in light of developments since then, in order to achieve best practice. This feature has already been turned off for new users in the EU and templates for existing users will be deleted by 15 October, pending agreement with my Office on the most appropriate means of collecting user consent,” Irish Data Protection Commissioner, Billy Hawkes said in a statement.

The changes, at least in Ireland, take some of the heat off Facebook after the auto tagging feature sparked privacy fears across the globe when it was initiated last year.

One of the biggest problems with the feature wasn’t its main usage, it was the fact that user’s were automatically opted in to the facial recognition function. In the opinion of several privacy experts, the move forced users to opt out for privacy, instead of being assured of it from the start.

The feature has been taken offline completely in the EU. A full copy of the report is available here.

Written By

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Compliance

The three primary drivers for cyber regulations are voter privacy, the economy, and national security – with the complication that the first is often...

Artificial Intelligence

Two of humanity’s greatest drivers, greed and curiosity, will push AI development forward. Our only hope is that we can control it.

Cybersecurity Funding

Los Gatos, Calif-based data protection and privacy firm Titaniam has raised $6 million seed funding from Refinery Ventures, with participation from Fusion Fund, Shasta...

Privacy

Many in the United States see TikTok, the highly popular video-sharing app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, as a threat to national security.The following is...

Privacy

Employees of Chinese tech giant ByteDance improperly accessed data from social media platform TikTok to track journalists in a bid to identify the source...

Application Security

Open banking can be described as a perfect storm for cybersecurity. At one end, small startups with financial acumen but little or no security...

Mobile & Wireless

As smartphone manufacturers are improving the ear speakers in their devices, it can become easier for malicious actors to leverage a particular side-channel for...

Government

The proposed UK Online Safety Bill is the enactment of two long held government desires: the removal of harmful internet content, and visibility into...