By Ray Perfetti - Design Studio Manager NY
Is Facebook’s facial recognition user outcry really their fault?
The last few months have certainly seen no shortage of news regarding internet privacy concerns and leading the pack of vilified companies always seems to be Facebook.
Of course, with a database of the most personal information of about 600 million members, anything Facebook does is sure to have an immediate impact.
Certainly Facebook can be faulted for consistently plunging users into new technological territory without consideration of the emotional impact on a community that is just becoming acclimated to the new online social world. Does that extend to faulting them for using the technology itself?
Facial recognition has been around for quite some time and it is currently being used by governments, law enforcement, airports, casinos, corporations, and security firms. We do not opt-in to being photographed hundreds of thousands of times every time we walk down a commercial street. We most certainly can not opt-out. Facebook’s new feature has not extended access of your photos to people that did not previously have it. It simply applied a pre-existing technology to what is already there. Are we so naive to think that this is not already being done by major informational warehouse companies that track every piece of information about us and sell it to the highest bidder.
If you have a profile, you already opted in whether you like it or not! Facebook is only applying the technology in a way that you can see it rather than behind the scenes. If this is scary, you had reason to be scared a long time ago.
I’m not saying that this isn’t a valid topic of conversation. Our society does need to redefine our expectations of privacy. Blaming or vilifying Facebook, at least this time, might be pointing the finger in the wrong place. A lesson to brands, however: Be careful how you innovate or you may find yourself becoming the villain.
Some further reading:
PC WORLD - Facebook Facial Recognition: Its Quiet Rise and Dangerous Future
PC WORLD - Why Facebook’s Facial Recognition is Creepy
TechCrunch - Facebook’s Facial Recognition Fiasco: Those Words Sound Scary!
