![]() But it has tried to get the 10-year-old biometric law changed before. Facebook denies having lobbyists or outside groups advocate on its behalf. ![]() Now, just as the company is embroiled in this potentially costly class action, Illinois lawmakers are considering an amendment that would substantially weaken the law. The law requires companies to get permission from consumers before collecting biometric data such as fingerprints, iris scans and images of faces. In 2015, three users sued on behalf of millions of Facebook users in Illinois under the law, claiming that Facebook did not obtain written consent from users or properly notify them about how their information would be used or or how long it would be kept. Facebook keeps its fingerprints off the bills by relying on trade groups for stealthier pushes on legislation that would hand users more control over how their likenesses are used, the Center for Public Integrity said, citing interviews with lawmakers and records. Of legislation that would have created new privacy protections for facial recognition proposed in 2017, all failed but one, and then only after the scope was limited, according to the group. Yet Facebook has aggressively pushed back against limits that states have considered imposing on commercial uses of facial recognition, according to the Center for Public Integrity, an investigative non-profit. There is no federal law governing the use of facial recognition technology, and only two states - Illinois and Texas - regulate it.ĭuring his testimony on Capitol Hill this month, Zuckerberg said Facebook is committed to getting "affirmative consent" from users for sensitive technologies such as facial recognition. In fact, very little is known about how extensive these practices already are. Privacy experts have been sounding the alarm over the potentially invasive uses of facial recognition for years as cameras proliferate and the technology advances, from retailers using it to identify shoplifters to sporting venues to spot potential troublemakers.Ĭonsumers frequently don't realize their faces can be scanned and connected to their identity including income, education, demographics and other data, according to the ACLU. "As members of the public and as users of Facebook, we need to know more about how that database is being utilized," says Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum. "This technology is powerful in a way that our society isn’t really used to," Bedoya says. The technology is becoming so sophisticated that Facebook can recognize people in photos and videos even if their faces are obscured, picking up clues from posture and body shape. And soon it could reveal even more, including the state of your health, privacy experts say. What may seem harmless - allowing Facebook to create an impression of your face - can be more telling than some people think. ![]() It also makes it possible for the visually impaired to have screen readers tell them who's tagged in friends' photos. The technology informs you if someone uses a photo of you in their profile picture to help detect impersonations. In December, Facebook expanded the scope of its technology with the announcement that it would let users know when someone posts a photo of them, even if they are not tagged in it. Apple last year replaced its fingerprint reader with a camera that uses your face to unlock the iPhone. "Facebook says: 'Trust us to keep it safe.' But Facebook has shown time and time again that it makes the wrong choices when it comes to protecting users' data."įacial recognition, sometimes called faceprinting, is used by major technology companies around the globe. "When we provide our biometric information to Facebook, we don’t know where that information is going," Electronic Frontier Foundation senior attorney Jennifer Lynch said. ![]() Even if someone were to obtain a "template," it does not function like other face recognition systems. But the more Facebook can glean from users’ photos about their interests, activities and social circles, the more precisely it can target advertising.įacebook says it has tight control over its database of people's likenesses. The company says it has no plans to make people's facial recognition data available to advertisers or outside developers. The technology is a shortcut that scans photos to suggest names of friends to tag. Facebook’s facial recognition technology analyzes photos and videos to create a unique "template" to identify you. ![]()
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