German authorities have renewed their
investigation against the world's largest social networks Facebook,
accusing it of creating a large photo database of users without their
consent for the operation of their face recognition technology, reports
The New York Times.
The investigation, which began in June 2011, was suspended a year later, said Casper Johannes (Johannes Caspar), a representative office to ensure the protection of information. However, he said, after unsuccessful attempts to convince Facebook to make changes to comply with privacy policies of these users, it was decided to resume the investigation.
"We have met several times with representatives from Facebook, but they refused to cooperate with us on this matter," - said Kaspar. Market regulators need to destroy the Facebook photo database users, collected in Germany, and to make changes to a web site to obtain consent to use personal photos for face recognition technology has become mandatory.
Face Detection on Facebook, launched in most countries in June 2011, is designed to simplify the process of adding tags to photos uploaded to the service. The user does not need to celebrate your friends manually on each image - the service is doing it yourself, and the user can only confirm the selection.
Such innovation has caused a mixed reaction from the authorities of the European Union, where by law the company must obtain the consent of a person to use his personal information.
Facebook acknowledged that the company actually collects biometric data of users, but states that this practice is legal in Ireland, where the European headquarters of social networks, and denies infringement of EU law. As a result of negotiations with the authorities in Ireland, Facebook agreed to explain in detail the principles of European users of the technology of facial recognition.
According to Caspar, he plans to complete its investigation as soon as possible and send a formal request to destroy the Facebook database. According to the NYT, in case of refusal he may fine the social network for 25,000 euros. In addition, it can sue and try to court to force Facebook to change the work of the service in Germany.
We recall that in June this year, Facebook has agreed to buy the service to recognize faces in photos Face.com. However, the technology of this service in the investigation of the German authorities have not yet mentioned.
Germany is not the first time makes claims to Facebook because of the principles of user data. In March of this year, the German court ruled that the social network is not properly inform its users about how it manages resources imported from other e-mail addresses of their friends.
Number of users of the world's largest social network Facebook over 955 million.
The investigation, which began in June 2011, was suspended a year later, said Casper Johannes (Johannes Caspar), a representative office to ensure the protection of information. However, he said, after unsuccessful attempts to convince Facebook to make changes to comply with privacy policies of these users, it was decided to resume the investigation.
"We have met several times with representatives from Facebook, but they refused to cooperate with us on this matter," - said Kaspar. Market regulators need to destroy the Facebook photo database users, collected in Germany, and to make changes to a web site to obtain consent to use personal photos for face recognition technology has become mandatory.
Face Detection on Facebook, launched in most countries in June 2011, is designed to simplify the process of adding tags to photos uploaded to the service. The user does not need to celebrate your friends manually on each image - the service is doing it yourself, and the user can only confirm the selection.
Such innovation has caused a mixed reaction from the authorities of the European Union, where by law the company must obtain the consent of a person to use his personal information.
Facebook acknowledged that the company actually collects biometric data of users, but states that this practice is legal in Ireland, where the European headquarters of social networks, and denies infringement of EU law. As a result of negotiations with the authorities in Ireland, Facebook agreed to explain in detail the principles of European users of the technology of facial recognition.
According to Caspar, he plans to complete its investigation as soon as possible and send a formal request to destroy the Facebook database. According to the NYT, in case of refusal he may fine the social network for 25,000 euros. In addition, it can sue and try to court to force Facebook to change the work of the service in Germany.
We recall that in June this year, Facebook has agreed to buy the service to recognize faces in photos Face.com. However, the technology of this service in the investigation of the German authorities have not yet mentioned.
Germany is not the first time makes claims to Facebook because of the principles of user data. In March of this year, the German court ruled that the social network is not properly inform its users about how it manages resources imported from other e-mail addresses of their friends.
Number of users of the world's largest social network Facebook over 955 million.
