Following complaints from the Connecticut attorney general's office, Facebook will run ads on its homepage with more details about the "Tag Suggestions" facial-recognition service.
Starting today, Facebook users will see a box on the right-side of their homepage that explains the facial recognition-enhanced feature and links people to their privacy settings should they want to change them. Facebook actually started a first round of these ads on June 30, but will begin another two-week round today, according to Attorney General George Jepsen. Every Facebook user is expected to see the ads at least twice, he said.
Back in December, Facebook announced plans for facial-recognition technology intended to make it easier for people to tag photos of friends. Facebook said it would examine newly uploaded photos and compare them to other photos in which you or your friends are tagged in order to make tagging suggestions. Last month, however, security firm Sophos expressed concern that facial recognition had been turned on by default. Users must go in and disable the service if they do not want to show up as "suggested tags" in their friends' photos. Jepsen then penned a letter to Facebook complaining about the fact that "Tag Suggestions" was not opt-in.
In a Tuesday press release, Jepsen said Facebook was making "significant" changes with regard to its facial-recognition technology, but not much has actually changed since the service is still opt-out. The ads and a guarantee that those who opt-out will have their facial-recognition data deleted was apparently enough, however.
"The company has been cooperative and diligent in its response and I look forward to working with them in the future to make sure Facebook users’ privacy is protected, which I believe is our shared goal," Jepsen said in a statement.
"Our collaboration with Attorney General Jepsen means that people across the country using Facebook will be more aware of our personalized privacy settings, and how they can be used to benefit their experience on the site," Tim Sparapani, director of public policy at Facebook, said in a statement. "The Attorney General has been an effective partner on this project, and we hope that people on Facebook will find the results to be helpful and useful."
Several European data protection officials, including those in the U.K. and Ireland, have also said they are investigating the technology.
Jepsen said Facebook also added new language and links to its contact forms for those who want to report fake profiles. He got involved in that issue after a Connecticut state lawmaker had trouble getting Facebook to shut down an imposter profile that was soliciting money. A new "roadblock" system will prevent people from updating an account until it's verified as authentic, he said.
If you don't want facial recognition turned on, go to your Facebook account's privacy settings, click on "Customize settings," go to "Things others share" and find the option for "Suggest photos of me to friends." To see if it's enabled, click "Edit Settings" and the box should either say "enabled" or "disabled."