Facebook Wants Your Face
Soon there won’t be anything left for them to take from us
Sometimes, the most innocuous beginnings segue into parasitic domain. Perhaps the most famous example of one such story is that of the boy and the giving tree. If you’ve never read it, here’s a quick synopsis: Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk…and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave until the tree had nothing left to give.
What does the story of the boy and the giving tree have to do with data privacy?
Allow me to explain…
This year, Facebook rolled out a facial recognition tool in the European Union as a way to help people safeguard their online identities. Naturally, it set off all sorts of privacy alarms. Perhaps the question that rang loudest: What do they want to do with my face?
Their claim: “Face recognition technology allows us to help protect you from a stranger using your photo to impersonate you,” Facebook told its users in Europe.
Seems fair enough, right? Maybe so, if only Facebook’s current record on data privacy issues wasn’t covered in shit stains.
If you weren’t already aware, the technology can be used to remotely identify people by name without their knowledge or consent. Proponents view it as a high-tech tool that could be used to catch criminals. As someone who’s deeply invested in the data privacy sphere, I’m telling you that this technology could be leveraged to enable a mass surveillance system.
Here’s how facial recognition technology works…
It scans faces of unnamed people in photos or videos and then matches codes of their facial patterns to those in their database of user profiles. Of course, Facebook says you’re in control and that ultimately it’s up to you if you want your face scanned. But here’s the crux, you can’t actually control the technology because Facebook already scans your face in photos even if the facial recognition setting is deactivated. In other words, just by using Facebook, you’ve given your consent. Funny, how that works eh?
Still, news of this latest “feature” Facebook is offering didn’t surprise me. Why? Because it’s yet another “feature” in a long line of “features” meant to jeopardize your freedom by further enveloping your existence within their product.
Just think about it…
First, they asked if they could have our relationships so we handed over our friends. Then we told them about our favorite movies, music and books. After that, they asked for our pictures so we gave them our memories. And once they had our memories, they asked for our secrets — the ones we only tell our closest friends. At first, we thought maybe we should keep those between ourselves and our friends, but soon we wavered on those too and we whispered, “we trust you,” as we typed them into Facebook Messenger.
Great, how about your time? Oh and your life too? Can you give us that?
They asked so politely it seemed as though they were doing us the favor. Take all of it, we said…and we were happy. Only now, we’re kinda fucked.
Unless we do something about it.
