Face.com acquired by Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#21

Post by toemetoch » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:09 PM UTC

beagle3 wrote: post #9

vecinu wrote: post #5

I remember Facebook recently implemented their controversial Face detecting module. Privacy advocates were freaked out because Facebook was trying to automatically tag people in photos simply based on face recognition. I assume they're going to be moving forward in that regard by acquiring Face.com's tech.

Facebook have been using face.com for face detection and recognition for a while. I guess they were happy enough with the results that they wanted control of the technology (and/or to stop others from using it)

Could it be that the license to process the volume facebook has in mind is near or higher than the price of the company? I don't know the price model for the face API but it's not unreasonable to consider a tipping point.

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#22

Post by tlrobinson » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:13 PM UTC

vecinu wrote: post #6

Mystalic wrote: post #4

I suspect Facebook has bigger plans for Face.com's technology than auto-tagging. I bet they integrate facial recognition technology into the Facebook Platform. Tagging every face... everywhere... and sending that data back to Facebook. That could be monumental.

Monumental or invasive? I personally fear for the latter.

Given the reactions to Facebook's past privacy debacles I would be surprised if they didn't allow people to opt out.

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#23

Post by timaelliott » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:15 PM UTC

Get ready, http://book.com, you're next!

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#24

Post by timdorr » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:16 PM UTC

Mystalic wrote: post #4

I suspect Facebook has bigger plans for Face.com's technology than auto-tagging. I bet they integrate facial recognition technology into the Facebook Platform. Tagging every face... everywhere... and sending that data back to Facebook. That could be monumental.

Facebook already does facial recognition. It's part of the upload flow for photos.

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#25

Post by RyanMcGreal » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:21 PM UTC

Watch out, Book.com - you're next.

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#26

Post by radagaisus » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:22 PM UTC

Facebook already used the Face.com API extensively. Rumors about this circulated here (Israel) this past month. This is great news.

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#27

Post by amitparikh » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:23 PM UTC

RyanMcGreal wrote: post #25

Watch out, Book.com - you're next.

hah, of course Book.com is owned by B&N. Can't wait for a FaceNook tablet.

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#28

Post by TomGullen » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:25 PM UTC

vecinu wrote: post #13

jps359 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait why?

Perhaps due to the fact that automatic face detection is an invasion of privacy.

How so?

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#29

Post by MiguelHudnandez » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:25 PM UTC

tlrobinson wrote: post #22

vecinu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Monumental or invasive? I personally fear for the latter.

Given the reactions to Facebook's past privacy debacles I would be surprised if they didn't allow people to opt out.

Curious -- given that you would be recognized in other people's photos, would they have a list of faces which are opted out, once recognized?

For the very purpose of storing your opt-out preference, they would have to keep a record of your facial features, or you would continuously come up again as people tagged you manually.

Re: Face.com acquired by Facebook

#30

Post by MiguelHudnandez » Mon, Jun 18, 2012, 5:31 PM UTC

gaving wrote: post #7

ma2xd wrote: post #3

Yet another reason to not use Facebook.

Yeah. Can't wait for my facebook using mates to make my shadow profile more accurate.

This could revolutionize the Facebook signup process. Instead of entering all that pesky personal information, just snap a pic with your webcam. They already know all that info!