Earlier this year we mentioned that Google was rolling out face recognition technology that would allow someone to pull up your personal information just by taking your picture. Now Facebook has launched their own facial recognition privacy nightmare, which “uses a comparison of photos you’re tagged in to suggest that friends tag you in new photos.” In other words, when one of your Facebook friends uploads a photo, and Facebook’s software recognizes you in that image, Facebook automatically suggests that your friend tag you in the photograph. The “feature” goes by “Suggest photos of me to friends”, and is also known as “Photos: Suggest Tags”. And the kicker is, Facebook has quietly enabled this for you without asking – so that any time a friend uploads a picture of someone who looks like you, Facebook is suggesting that they tag you!
Facebook says that their “Suggest photos of me to friends” feature “helps your friends label and share their photos, and makes it easier to find out when photos of you are posted.”
Uh, gee, thanks. We’ve written elsewhere about the annoyance that is being tagged, willy-nilly, in Facebook photos. We don’t really want that practice to be facilitated!
Facebook goes on to explain that “This feature uses a comparison of photos you’re tagged in to suggest that friends tag you in new photos.”
Don’t want it? Here’s how to turn it off!
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First, go to your Privacy settings on Facebook:
Click on “Customize settings”:
..and find the “Things Others Share” section, where you will find a link to edit your “Suggest photos of me to friends” settings:
When you click on “Edit settings”, you will probably find that it is enabled by default (what a surprise):
Click on where it says “Enabled”, and you will see a drop-down menu that allows you to select “disabled”:
Click on “Disabled” and Facebook will no long suggest that your friends tag you in every photo they upload.
In case it’s too late, and you are already getting tagged way more than you’d like, here is how to remove yourself from tagged photos on Facebook.
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Facebook can’t be trusted anymore than Goodle can, especially when FB records IP addresses!
You know, some fine day soon, these Facebook People are going to get themselves into a heap of trouble.
One example: The Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Another: Somebody is going to tag somebody in error, and the error will propagate. Then watch the lawyers come out… because Facebook has deep, lawsuit inviting pockets.
I could add more, but anyone with not too much imagination can figure out the dangers.
Guess, I’ll keep away then. Gee! That’s stupid of them! They implement Features that cause people to stay away! Oh, my, I smell a shareholder’s lawsuit.
I gotta go now. Confabulate amongst yourselves!
Facebook is without doubt the single, most dangerous site on the web, bar none!
Just one more good reason to avoid Facebook!
Fabulous – thanks for this very useful information!!!!!