Developed for internal use, Facebook revealed a facial-recognition app. But, what about its privacy issue? (Image via TechCrunch)

Facebook confirms facial recognition app, developed for internal use

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Internet & IT
Nov 23, 2019
2512
Before spreading it onto the mass market, Facebook has been developing its arsenal in secret. Brought to light by its spokesperson, Facebook on Thursday revealed that it has developed a facial recognition app between 2015 - 2016.

But, don’t hold your breath, it is not available for download anytime soon since the social media platform developed the app for internal use only.

In an interview with VentureBeat, Facebook stated that the app recognizes the facial feature of Facebook’s employers and their friends who also have the app. For Facebook, it is normal to build apps internally as a way to gain knowledge about new techs.

The app works by pointing their cameras at faces, and it will display their name and Facebook’s profile in a heartbeat.

However, as the new app has now been unveiled, it causes another privacy concern, something that Facebook is lacking currently. Nobody will ever forget when Facebook illicitly shared 87 million personal information data to Cambridge Analytica in 2018, which resulted in US$5 billion fine by the Federal Trade Commission.

The facial recognition by Facebook also panned controversies. In 2015, a lawsuit involved Facebook that allegedly violated Illinois biometric privacy law by allowing users to tag other Facebook users. By tagging other Facebook users, a link to their Facebook profile would automatically appear. It was always on. After the lawsuit, Facebook offered to turn off the tagging option.

Source: https://cnet.co/34fjXZw

Business , Company , Telecommunication , Technology , Application , U.S , Facebook , Face-recognition , Biometric , Privacy , Scandal