The topic is well known: facial recognition on Facebook. It was initially shut down in 2012 after protests. Now it should appear again, but this time Facebook would like to offer the user the option to refuse this service.

But what impact would consent have and, above all, what is facial recognition and what is it supposed to achieve?

The facial recognition

Facebook also wants to reintroduce facial recognition in the EU, so that users can be recognized in photos without having been tagged in them beforehand - how practical. The attempt was made once in 2010, but it was shelved in the EU two years later after massive protests from data protection advocates.

So now a new attempt, this time in a very unusual way for Facebook, they actually want to ask the users whether they want it. In the coming period, all users in the EU will be asked “Do you want to be tagged in pictures and videos in the future” or something like that. Yes or no? However, you should be able to revoke your consent in the settings for history and tagging, if the child hasn't already fallen into the well.

What do you buy with consent?

The company describes it like this: Facial recognition is an analysis of the individual pixels of photos and videos in which people have already been tagged. The analysis results in a template (number sequence, of course in the PC everything is a number sequence somehow).

If photos and videos are later uploaded, the Facebook computers pounce on them and evaluate the images based on the available templates. If someone has not agreed, there is no template for them, so their non-existent number sequence is intended to prevent identification.

If a user withdraws their consent, their template will be deleted. There are also no plans to link the whole thing to advertising or friend suggestions. The company also tries to credibly assure that there are no plans to pass on the data to other Facebook companies. (We remember? Contact details from WhatsApp to Facebook…)

Concerns from the consumer advice center

The consumer advice center is critical of the analysis technology. All transmitted images are scanned and then Facebook checks whether the recognized faces are related to a profile.

Even if there are no plans yet to exchange the data with other companies, we know from the WhatsApp Contacts story how fickle Facebook is when it comes to such plans.

Although Facebook's deputy data protection officer Rob Sherman stated that facial recognition cannot identify strangers, it is already pointed out in a blog post today that the method should be able to read out to visually impaired people which people are in a photo or can be seen in a video, even if they have not yet been marked by anyone. Simply because the people have already been tagged elsewhere and have agreed to facial recognition.

So you can always be recognized as long as consent is active. It is also unknown how confusion between people who look very similar can be avoided.

Facial recognition and its alleged benefits

Nothing works better than putting the protection of users first, which is exactly what Facebook is doing at this point. Anyone who agrees to be recognized would be notified immediately if a photo or video is published in which the user can be recognized. This would make it possible, for example, to prevent profile copies.

Unfortunately, there is only great or great – face recognition completely or not at all. If you want to prevent the danger of profile copying, you have to live with the possibility of being recognized in every photo and video.

In addition, the protection is not that extensive - the consumer advice center gives the following example:

“A user posts a picture that shows you. He intentionally limits the visibility so that you don't see it at all. This can be done, for example, by only making it visible to his friends or to very specific friends. You will then not receive any information that someone has published a picture of you.”

Finally, a few tips

We at Mimikama can only fully agree with the advice of the consumer advice center:

Tips for more data protection online

First, ask yourself critically whether the advantages or disadvantages of facial recognition on Facebook outweigh the disadvantages for you. Remember that you can be recognized in any picture on Facebook as long as you have facial recognition turned on. In order not to reveal too much about yourself online, we give the following recommendations:

  • Don't show every snapshot of yourself publicly on social networks.
  • If you upload photos of yourself, consider whether you really want everyone to see them, or whether only friends or a self-defined group of recipients should see them.
  • Use profile photos in which you cannot be completely recognized.
  • Talk to Facebook friends about asking before posting photos of you online or uploading them to social networks.
  • Enter your name into search engines every now and then and check what is found. You can have unpleasant things deleted .
  • Use different images on different social media platforms. Because what use is a pseudonym on a dating platform if you appear on a public social network with the same picture that might have your real name?!
  • If a social network offers the option of making your profile discoverable in search engines, it is better to deactivate this.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )