Facebook is moving to make photo tagging easier with face-recognition technology. But the move is already drawing concerns from industry watchers.
Since October, Facebook has been working to make photo tagging easier for its more than 500 million users. Facebook added features like group tagging so users can type one name and apply it to multiple photos of the same person. Now Facebook is announcing “tag suggestions.”
“Because photos are such an important part of Facebook, we want to be sure you know exactly how tag suggestions work: When you or a friend upload new photos, we use face-recognition software — similar to that found in many photo-editing tools — to match your new photos to other photos you’re tagged in,” said Justin Mitchell, a Facebook engineer. “We group similar photos together and, whenever possible, suggest the name of the friend in the photos.”
‘Begging for Forgiveness’
Mitchell made clear that users can disable suggested tags in privacy settings if they don’t want their name to be suggested. But like it or not, Facebook is planning to roll out the new features over the next few weeks in the U.S.
“Once again Facebook is testing its users’ tolerances by opening up more data and information to public view without clearly educating users in advance,” said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. “This fits Facebook’s pattern of begging for forgiveness rather than asking for permission.”
Assuming users won’t really care, Facebook pushes privacy boundaries and then waits to see the reaction, Sterling said. If there’s a sufficiently large outcry and backlash, it walks back some of the changes. If not, he noted, it presses onward.
“In the case of photos taken by third parties and tagging, the issue of privacy is murky. Facebook argues it’s simply enabling a better user experience,” Sterling said. “But…
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