The Next Chapter in the Facebook Saga

I'm sure most of the people reading this post will have heard something or other about the barrage of bad press that Facebook gets for the way that it deals with privacy issues. The latest onslaught comes after Facebook revealed yesterday that it is rolling out its facial recognition service across the globe. It appears that many people, including Sarah at PCWorld, are angry with the lack of communication about the change and the fact that, yet again, you must opt-out rather than opt-in to the service, meaning that unless you know it is coming it is unlikely that you will find it.

For me this issue is not as cut and dry as that, for the solution to this problem would simply be for the public (if Facebook itself won't) to communicate to everyone else on Facebook that these options are out there. Easy. The problem that I have is the terms of the opt-out. If you disable the recognition option Facebook will no longer suggest to your friends that you are in pictures. Great. What it does not do is stop collecting the data about you in the first place. It will still look at pictures that you are tagged in and create a profile of what you look like. Naughty Facebook.

On the other hand I am so relieved that Google has come out and said that they will not be creating a specific facial recognition database. That is such a relief to me when we know that they are investing hugely in technology that can identify all things visual. One can only presume that this includes faces. Thanks Google, you have saved the day again.

So once again it is the Facebook vs Google privacy fight, and who will come out triumphant? Well, that's like asking if in a fight between Hitler and Stalin who you would like to win. Maybe that's a bit melodramatic, but you get the idea.