Facebook’s face-recognition photo-tagging system violates German and European privacy laws, says the city of Hamburg’s data protection agency.
The feature “recognizes” faces in photos, shortening the often tedious tagging process, which enables users to connect a face in a photo with a Facebook friend. The tool is enabled by default but can be disabled via a user’s privacy settings.
Facebook’s global rollout of the face-recognition feature created an uproar in the European Union and initiated an investigation in June, which focused on potential privacy risks.
Hamburg’s data protection agency says the feature violates people’s ability to control their own information. In June, the agency called on the government to take action.
Now Hamburg’s data protection official has sent a notice to Facebook to demand it stops using the face-recognition feature with German users and deletes any related data, reports The Guardian. German authorities will take action if Facebook does not comply — the world’s largest social network could face fines of up to €300,000 ($428,940 USD), an admittedly small fine for a company that’s valued at $50 billion.
This is not the first time that Facebook has encountered privacy problems in Germany. In January, the company was confronted by the same data protection agency and asked to limit the use of email addresses of people who aren’t members of the social network. The two parties reached an agreement, only allowing Facebook to use non-member email addresses for its Friend-Finder feature.
Germany is quite serious about privacy — late last year, Google also ran into a privacy snafu regarding Street View. Prior to launching in Germany’s top 20 cities, Google enabled households to opt out of having their houses photographed for Street View. More than 240,000 households opted out, a total of 2.89% of total households. Google, however, will not be continuing its Street View ventures in Germany — it stopped adding new Street View pictures in the country back in April.
A Facebook rep told Spiegel Online the company was looking into the issue, but that it “firmly rejected any accusations that we are not complying with our obligations to European Union data protection laws.”
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, FrankvandenBergh
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Posted on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:58:07 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/yQh8AhlZHmc/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/03/facebook-germany-law/#comments
The feature “recognizes” faces in photos, shortening the often tedious tagging process, which enables users to connect a face in a photo with a Facebook friend. The tool is enabled by default but can be disabled via a user’s privacy settings.
Facebook’s global rollout of the face-recognition feature created an uproar in the European Union and initiated an investigation in June, which focused on potential privacy risks.
Hamburg’s data protection agency says the feature violates people’s ability to control their own information. In June, the agency called on the government to take action.
Now Hamburg’s data protection official has sent a notice to Facebook to demand it stops using the face-recognition feature with German users and deletes any related data, reports The Guardian. German authorities will take action if Facebook does not comply — the world’s largest social network could face fines of up to €300,000 ($428,940 USD), an admittedly small fine for a company that’s valued at $50 billion.
This is not the first time that Facebook has encountered privacy problems in Germany. In January, the company was confronted by the same data protection agency and asked to limit the use of email addresses of people who aren’t members of the social network. The two parties reached an agreement, only allowing Facebook to use non-member email addresses for its Friend-Finder feature.
Germany is quite serious about privacy — late last year, Google also ran into a privacy snafu regarding Street View. Prior to launching in Germany’s top 20 cities, Google enabled households to opt out of having their houses photographed for Street View. More than 240,000 households opted out, a total of 2.89% of total households. Google, however, will not be continuing its Street View ventures in Germany — it stopped adding new Street View pictures in the country back in April.
A Facebook rep told Spiegel Online the company was looking into the issue, but that it “firmly rejected any accusations that we are not complying with our obligations to European Union data protection laws.”
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, FrankvandenBergh
More About: facebook, germany, lawFor more Social Media coverage:Follow Mashable Social Media on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Social Media channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:58:07 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/yQh8AhlZHmc/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/03/facebook-germany-law/#comments
