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Facebook must face a class action lawsuit over its use of facial recognition technology, a California judge has ruled.
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook gathered biometric information without users' explicit consent.
It involves the "tag suggestions" technology, which spots users' friends in uploaded photos; the lawsuit says this breaches Illinois state law.
Facebook said the case had no merit and it would fight it vigorously.
On Monday, US District Judge James Donato ruled to certify a class of Facebook users - a key legal hurdle for a class action suit.
The class of people in question is Facebook users "in Illinois for whom Facebook created and stored a face template after June 7, 2011", according to the court order.
In a successful class action suit, any person in that group could be entitled to compensation.
In his order, Judge Donato wrote: "Facebook seems to believe... statutory damages could amount to billions of dollars."
The decision comes days after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced intensive questioning by US lawmakers over the company's collection and use of user data.
June 2011 was the date on which Facebook rolled out its "tag suggestions" feature.
(Score: 2) by drussell on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:29PM (10 children)
Does Facebook even offer a way to "opt-out" of facial recognition so you cannot get auto-tagged at all?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:31PM (8 children)
no.
but i want in on the lawsuit
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday April 18 2018, @04:20PM (7 children)
Me too. Never had FaceTwit. No doubt have been tagged in photos uploaded by others. I have no option to get Facebook to stop tagging me and following me around the web. (Well: uMatrix)
But alas, I'm in the wrong state.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday April 18 2018, @05:11PM (3 children)
Yeah, it seems a bit odd that it only includes Facebook users in Illinois.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday April 18 2018, @05:28PM (2 children)
Only because Illinois passed a law which is what the lawsuit is based on.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by maxwell demon on Wednesday April 18 2018, @05:55PM (1 child)
That explains the "only in Illinois" part, but not the "only Facebook users" part. It should have been "anyone in Illinois whose facial data was stored and analyzed by Facebook".
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday April 18 2018, @06:07PM
This may be due to specifics of the law.
Hypothesis: the law doesn't anticipate that Evil Corp would also track and abuse the personal info of NON-USERS of its platform.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Informative) by captain normal on Wednesday April 18 2018, @05:24PM
Found it on El Reg: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/18/facebook_faces_foe_formation_in_facial_fingering_fight/ [theregister.co.uk]
Seems Illinois passed a Biometric Information Privacy Act in 2008. Now the big question is, why haven't other states or the U.S. congress also passed such a law? In the Register article there is mention of similar suits against Google.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Wednesday April 18 2018, @06:48PM (1 child)
Exactly. Some "Friend" will upload your picture and put your name to it, and then you are IN THE SYSTEM and
there is no way out.
The best you can say is that they don't seem to leak these pictures to Google search, but anyone who has you
in their Facebook Contacts will suddenly see your picture suggested.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday April 18 2018, @09:06PM
Sort of like with a "friend" sends you an email greeting card through some sketchy web site.
Gee, thanks!
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Justin Case on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:53PM
You: I want to opt out.
FB: OK, who is it that wants to opt out?
You: (provides some identifying information)
Seriously cannot see the problem here?
It must be opt-IN! Default deny.
Here's a photo of my left big toe. Please do not hit it with a hammer. Also, here's a photo of my right big toe. Please do not hit it with a hammer. Also, here's a photo of my left pinkie. Please do not hit it with a hammer. Also, here's...
Oh, and google, here's the same photos. And Apple, have a look at these too. And who else?