Society's Child

Facebook to shut down facial recognition technology and delete data on a billion people's faces

Andrew Griffin
Independent
Tue, 02 Nov 2021 07:38 UTC

Facebook will shut down its facial recognition system after it was the subject of huge numbers of privacy complaints.

The site will no longer automatically recognise people when they are in photos and videos. That tool was marketed as helping tag people in photos that were uploaded, but also allowed Facebook to build a vast library of facial recognition data on the people who use it.

Facebook also said that it would delete that data, in a move that will see it destroy more than a billion people's individual facial recognition templates.

It said that the decision had been taken as part of a "company-wide move to limit the use of facial recognition in our products".

Removing it will "represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology's history", Facebook said. More than a third of its users had opted into the system that allowed them to be recognised in other people's photos.

Facebook said that it had made the decision because of "growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole". It noted that the debate about the use of facial recognition technology is ongoing, though did not specifically relate that to its many privacy scandals and controversies.

It did note that it still considers facial recognition technology useful in some instances, such as allowing people to access locked accounts and identifying people for blind or visually-impaired users.

Until now, the technology has been used to automatically generate image descriptions that allow people using its accessibility features to be told who is in a photo, for instance. That will be turned off, along with all the other features powered by the technology.

It said that it will continue to work on facial recognition technology within the company, but committed to engage with outside experts on the ethics of using it and to plan how best to do so.

The changes will mean that the various bits of facial recognition technology used across the Facebook products will be removed "over the coming weeks", Facebook said.

Comment: So Facebook "will continue to work on facial recognition technology within the company," they just won't offer it to the users of their platform. How is that the least bit reassuring? Not being unwittingly tagged in a photo is rather minor in comparison to corporate entities using facial recognition data behind the scenes (and letting intelligence agencies have access to that same data, no doubt). This reeks of a PR move for a company whose public image is currently on the rocks.

See also:

Reader Comments

Olive · 2021-11-03T12:57:57Z

Hard to believe anything the robot Z says.

He'll always find a buyer who is eager to acquire what his dirty work has got.

Artex · 2021-11-03T13:30:13Z

I'm curious what they might have discovered about what percentage of people look similar enough to be considered identical who might not have any direct relation. I've wondered about that. Probably higher than fingerprints, which most people don't know have not been studied as vigorously as one might hope considering their use in criminal prosecution.

Facial recognition has already been a nightmare for a handful of people who have been identified with it and then arrested for crimes they could not have committed. This guy was actually ambushed and beaten by police when they arrested him, completely unnecessarily. [Link]

Animanarchy · 2021-11-03T14:16:25Z

Artex I sometimes wonder what would be done if someone with an identical twin, triplets etc. committed a crime and was caught on camera but refused to admit to it and the other(s) has/have no alibi(s) or way to prove it wasn't them so for all anyone knows it could have been either/any of them. Would both/all be charged and, depending on the crime, maybe held indefinitely?

I once saw someone who looked like my doppelganger. I was walking out of a mall and he was walking in and we looked at each other on the way past with a "What the...?" kind of expression. It felt strange. I don't think I'd ever seen anyone who resembled me so much and maybe neither had he.

Animanarchy · 2021-11-03T14:27:00Z

Artex

Four broken ribs, blood clots, sciatica, ruptured disc, a fractured penis.

Hemmorhaging sounds quite possible, but a fracture? Perhaps they meant to spell pelvis?

Artex · 2021-11-03T15:18:30Z

Animanarchy You can "fracture" an erect penis, but that's probably not what they meant unless there is a lot more to the story they left out.

In the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie there is a kid in the background of one scene that looks exactly like I did when that movie came out. He's wearing a tied-dyed shirt of some kind, same hair, same face as me. Always creeped me tf out.

I've had many people tell me they saw me somewhere I wasn't anywhere near on multiple occasions. I have a doppleganger running around, but I suspect if I saw them I wouldn't recognize them. I can't even see the eerie resemblance people say they see between me and my father when he was young, but I can see the resemblance between me and my brothers.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T00:24:09Z

Artex had a similar thing happening to me while still living in Germany. my girlfriend got asked what i did on a Sunday morning in the neighbor town at 7a.m. luckily she knew exactly where i was at that time > right next to her and still asleep. and the person asking knew me pretty well being a close friend of my girl. how do you handle such a situation if you can not disproof it? i have no idea about that.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T00:28:07Z

Animanarchy would put the judge in a tight spot, but there is a principle in Justice apparatus, it is called > innocent until proven guilty, so the judge could actually sentence none of those. at least not by the book.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:59:38Z

Artex does not have to be erect to brake it...

ginkhoba · 2021-11-03T23:55:46Z

to quote Aria from the movie Eragon> is their anyone, who trusts the word of a shade?

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T00:12:24Z

ginkhoba I saw a good portion of that on the Movie Network ~a decade ago and enjoyed it; it was a fun movie, especially with a nice fire in a woodstove in front of a brick wall near the TV. I don't remember much though. It reminded me of Dragonheart.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T00:16:58Z

Animanarchy want a copy, straight from my harddrive? although i must admit, after i had read all the books, i consider the movie disappointing and a sell out.

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T00:27:46Z

ginkhoba Sure, thanks. I was pleasantly hazy and it was a good ambience for me at the time. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint in a review. I never read the books. Maybe I'll watch it tonight. I'm smoking weed and hash and tobacco mixed in a bong and drinking beer and took some Lyrica. Movies would tickle my amygdala [Link]
Does your name on here have a basis of ginko biloba?

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T00:37:00Z

Animanarchy yes it does, first reason ginkho biloba is a brain stimulant, second it is considered a living fossil, so that fits to, since i turned 60 this year. i just shortened the name so it would fit into logins, a lot of times the full name would not. Lyrica i don't know, will look it up, the green and the hash i quit about a year ago, after self medicating my high level hyper activity with it for about 30 years. i just never liked to mix it with alcohol, bad vibes for me. wish you a good and relaxing night from down here. btw, if you have a decent inet connection, the torrent takes about 20 minutes to down the movie....

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T00:58:05Z

Animanarchy now that i watched that clip, and not only listened to it, i think you might like to know that i am wearing a tiny blue mushroom inside a glass teardrop around my neck for at lest 15 years now.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T00:45:48Z

just looked up Lyrica, may i ask, why You use it? curious about that, what would it do for you? because i could on the quick find only medical conditions for its use... like the music link you sent me, Shpongle is a great choice. that is the one thing i miss since i am in south America, the trance festivals. used to dance 3 days in a row, some acid in the bloodstream would keep me awake for the whole time lol, long times ago.

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T01:11:28Z

ginkhoba I only take Lyrica occasionally and mostly just stick to the weed+tobacco bongs, hash when I can get a good deal, and I drink beer, my main exception to a paleo based diet. As an advertisement in NaGeo said, a "side effect" of Lyrica is "feeling high" - nice incentive. Ask your doctor (or someone in the underground in town - I traded a 500mL can of beer for three pills this evening, not sure of the amount in them, they should be 300mg each at the most).

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:18:25Z

Animanarchy one difficulty with that, i am a Reiki master, and have not seen a doctor in ages, smile. paleo sounds smart, lived with that diet a full year, my last year before i left Ecuador heading further south. hash is very hard to find down here, especially good one, but the pott they grow around here, is not bad. or used to be.

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T01:30:27Z

ginkhoba SWIM met someone recently who makes hash, a cold extraction of the oil with a heavy metal press, then freezes it. He hooked me up with buds that'll last a while.

Reiki makes me think of this: [Link] I haven't had a cold in about 11.5 years though I've been to the doctors for some injurious stuff and one case of cellulitis of some sort in an arm from accidenrally scraping it on rusty metal when climbing pipes onto a roof for fun that required some antibiotic injections.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:44:42Z

Animanarchy a steel pipe with to lids, and a way to connect it with a butan pressurized lighter gas can do the same trick, can find a how to online, i guess. say, do you have a Telegram account? can find me there, with the same handle, getting a bit personal in a public forum...

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T01:53:25Z

ginkhoba Don't want to get in trouble, I just have the Meta (a Facebook account, and I have two old hotmail accounts). I don't know the entire process of the extraction and production. Those were some basics that the guy mentioned. He has a little torch.

I also have a YouTube account, same handle as well, I looked it up on Google when I thought of it, no results, though now apparently it's taken on several sites, even banned.video .

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:54:06Z

Animanarchy thx for that somafera link, did not know that page, looks interesting. i was just born with healing hands, do that since i am 5 years old, in my family not really a rare thing. and when i was about 30 years old, i learned of the Reiki system, and acquired all the levels, with my teacher telling me, that he could not really teach me anything and i was only there for certification, which i got. can do some wild stuff with my hands, know more than one person who experienced that and got frightened of me. ah yes, and i talk to wolves, have done that also all my life, since i am ten and met the first wolf live in a zoo, my old man freaked out watching me and lost it right there, in the zoo, lol, funny memory.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:57:17Z

Animanarchy i will never use f***book no matter what they call it, i am a certified software developer, and i hate what sucker berg does.Telegram is just an alternative to whatsapp, but encrypted, similar to signal, which is also a good choice.

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T02:11:15Z

ginkhoba I've been using it for about 13 years = too late for me. With my official file/record it doesn't matter what I say. I try to stay away from the BS there. I use FB for messaging, browsing nature pictures and videos, parkour and such stunt/athletic prowess videos, some memes, and I try to post good stuff, like links from here, occasionally throw in my two cents in a debate. Overall I believe that I utilize the platform properly. I do much agree with you though.

What I was typing when you replied again with the comment regarding healing hands and wolves - sound like dryad druid stuff:

ginkhoba That's awesome. How about distant prayers, are they effective? I'd request a favour, just a little goodwill to help t heal from several injuries. I've been out of body and had some spiritual experiences so I don't doubt you and that know basic materialism is a limited concept like a physics engine in a video game.

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T02:12:34Z

ginkhoba That's awesome. How about distant prayers, are they effective? I'd request a favour, just a little goodwill to help to heal from several injuries that I have experienced and somewhat sustained. lol, no psychic charge except quantum ionaztio

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T02:19:06Z

Animanarchy will do, will send you Reiki a bit later, distance means nothing in that context, matter is not truly real, the first level of existence is pure energy, and reiki is just that, pure healing energy. so, i will head out of here in about 10 min, and then i will send you what i can, but i need my hands free for that, so can not do it while typing. can tell me tomorrow what you perceived of it, would like to know, because everybody perceives it different. and Reiki is not a prayer, but a technique that anybody can learn, it is a function of our energetic body, to heal yourself and others.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T02:21:34Z

Animanarchy a prayer is always helpful, because it is a dialog with God, and that will always help.and on that level also distance means nothing.

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T04:01:38Z

ginkhoba P.S. weed's legal in Canada (I"ve always lived in Ontario) so none of what I mentioned is illegal.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:06:04Z

let me pay you back, this used to be my favorite party every year

[Link]

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T01:14:58Z

ginkhoba makes me want to jump around like an ape.

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T01:17:16Z

Other good music: Soulfly (like that song), Tycho, Amon Tobin, Bonobo.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:19:16Z

Animanarchy Infected Mushroom live is also a rare experience....

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T01:41:20Z

ginkhoba I know of Infected Mushroom: "Psycho!"

There's Prodigy, Flobots, DISL, Beast 1333, Deltron 3030. The list goes on. I'll try to think of more. Much of what I listed is rap, like this: RC and Chris Sky: a song that is not too easy to find on YouTube. You can find it by typing in: "Rc crhis sky just say no rap song", which I have linked to here before, here it is again: [Link]

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T02:09:27Z

Animanarchy good music, good message, although i don't know much rap, but i love Tom MacDonald [Link]

Animanarchy ·

ginkhoba same

· 2021-11-04T02:11:36Z

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T02:26:05Z

Animanarchy so i gonna drop out of here now, have some midnight snack, and read you again tomorrow, i guess, have a good night, and wait for my energy stream...

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T02:45:39Z

ginkhoba adaptogenic quantum entanglement %+ = "spooky action at a distance" - Einstein. Goodnight too, I'll let you go lol

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T18:31:45Z

Animanarchy placebo or not, or maybe a result of oxytocin from indications of care, I felt soma charged.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T18:57:36Z

Animanarchy lol, first you ask for energy, and then you doubt it...

Animanarchy · 2021-11-04T19:06:54Z

ginkhoba Maybe I'm not very meditatively in tune with my aura, chi, whatever.

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T19:09:13Z

Animanarchy or may be you were to stoned to feel the difference. never mind, as long as you feel good with it, all is fine

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:22:28Z

man, i really do miss this place, and the people there [Link]

ginkhoba · 2021-11-04T01:30:12Z

that couple talking at minute 7.30 used to be one of our shrooms retailers...

NATO bombs the Great Man-Made River (2011) [Link]

Lacsap

the muhjadeen and Kurds are cultivated and funded by CIA in Iraq, Syria and Iran... many of the Iranian emigres in USA and Europe are Kurds. There...

smertzasmert

many including Morris Berman, Willard Gatewood, David Potter, Eugene Genovese have shown that the US civil war had nothing to do w slavery, rather...

smertzasmert

NATO Member Turkey to Invade Syria [Link]

parzival

Why do those envious communists only want to share other people's incomes, but not their chore ? I think Poland is damned. Sorry for the common...

codis

Society's Child

Facebook to shut down facial recognition technology and delete data on a billion people's faces

Reader Comments

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

Contact Us