Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
51–60 of 196 posts
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#52A legitimate question I’ve always had when we read such announcements is how can we be certain they’re actually doing whatever they’re claiming / planning to do. Unlike software /OS modifications, it’s not feasible to somehow reverse engineer FB’s backend and find out if anything unusual is happening. At least without any attempt of compromising it. Considering how powerful these orgs are, with low probability of fac…
The same way that you verify that the local chicken plant is properly following contamination prevention procedures. You don’t, at least not personally. We as a society rely on government based regulations and knowledgeable inspectors to verify these things. I’d say software should be no different in these regards. (Though that isn’t currently the case.)
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#53Sorry for me not believing this. They’ve been caught lying so many times trying to save face that I fully expect them to double down on facial recognition after this announcement.
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#54They are finally realizing that they're scaring people away.
2021 is the “let’s bring back normal stuff” year, after Apple restored USB, HDMI, Magsafe ports and the F1 keys ;) What next, moving back from the Cloud, data ownership, Youtube having chronological ordering instead of “We chose what you should watch because we want to influence your political opinions” ???
>Youtube having chronological ordering
I am confused, for me the subscription section is always chronological and has everything I subscribed , I see the youtube home page a few times a year because I bookmarked the subscription url and not the home page.
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#55> We need to weigh the positive use cases for facial recognition against growing societal concerns, especially as regulators have yet to provide clear rules. Disclaimer: I have never owned an Apple product, and I haven't used Facebook for roughly a decade. Apple have been doing face recognition for a while now, arguably at a similar scale, but their use case is pretty straightforward. With FB face recognition is not…
Sadly apple are not angels either when it comes to scanning photos:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/apple-to-delay-implementing-anti-...
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#56So sad that we can't have nice things. I like the feature that automatically tags people in pictures. Sometimes I have trouble remembering people's names (not face blindness or similar, just regular trouble I guess). I would love to have smart glasses that show the name of someone I've met before but don't quite remember. But alas, our society being what it is people will abuse facial recognition, so I can't have tha…
I didn't like that feature, and neither did my circle, back when I was on Facebook. We found it unnerving. But we are older and perhaps prefer the illusion of privacy, and not anyone being able to out us by uploading a picture and being archived/cataloged non-consensually.
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#57Luddites. You can't un-invent technology. Like all technology, facial recognition has tremendous potential for good. We should learn to live with the technology, not attempt to forbid its use. Also, Meta is a bunch of cowards nowadays. They should not have kowtowed to angry Twitter activists. It sets a bad precedent. I don't like this system where activists bully big companies into compliance with their idiosyncratic…
> Also, cowards. I don't like this system where activists
Are you sure it isn't just that not enough people opted in for it to be worth the cost of maintaining that part of the service?
> FB has a responsibility to its shareholders to maximize profit within the law
Which it may be doing here, by removing infrastructure and people from running and maintaining a feature, resources that can then be used on features that have a better effect on the bottom line.
Or are you believing that it is entirely about “finding balance” morally (or at least in the court of public opinion), rather than balancing the bottom line financially (even if just in part)?
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#58Here's where Facebook's brand reputation sits in my mind today:
I do not believe them at all. I do not believe they've had some change of heart regarding "many concerns about the place of facial recognition technology in society." I do not believe they intend to not use this technology in some other privacy-invading way.
Trying to figure out their real angle here. Avoid regulation? "Good" PR at a time when they desperately need it? A broader existential threat that I can't even fathom at the level of power their company currently wields in society?
Probably not much at this point they could do to change my absolute negative opinion of the company though, so there's that.
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#59> We need to weigh the positive use cases for facial recognition against growing societal concerns, especially as regulators have yet to provide clear rules. Disclaimer: I have never owned an Apple product, and I haven't used Facebook for roughly a decade. Apple have been doing face recognition for a while now, arguably at a similar scale, but their use case is pretty straightforward. With FB face recognition is not…
Where does apple do it? They do it in iPhoto but it is based on what you tell it, and is opt out. Where else?
Re: Facebook plans to shut down its facial recognition system
#60Serious question: I kind of liked how Facebook found people in my photos. Is there room for such a feature in a privacy conscious world?
Subjective answer: Any data that has the potential for abuse regarding privacy will eventually find its way to being abused. Providing said feature requires curating the dataset necessary to power it. How can we trust companies beholden to quarterly earnings to do the right thing when financial motivations inform 100% of their actions? We can't.
> Any data that has the potential for abuse regarding privacy will eventually find its way to being abused.
Right, and it is our duty to not just roll over and let it be abused. We live in the world we create. Just shrugging will guarantee it will be abused.