New technologies have brought to our lives new tools and services, and with those, new customs and lifestyles. Every society requires a relatively long transition period to adapt to new social paradigms. Unfortunately, these periods have been reduced from millennia to centuries, from centuries to decades, and from decades to a few years. For the […]

The International Biometrics and Identification Association (IBIA), a trade association promoting the appropriate use of identity and security technology, is raising a red flag on an impending “perfect storm.” caused by the combination of photo tagging and tag suggestion through facial recognition technology. The IBIA warns that this perfect storm may destroy the barrier separating our online […]

Facebook users overwhelmingly agree that it’s rude to post photos or videos of them without asking permission first. Some even think it should be illegal. Sophos has polled over 800 Facebook users, asking whether people should seek permission before posting photographs or videos online of others.  Although a large majority – 83% – of […]

Social networking sites need to obtain users’ “informed consent” before suggesting to other users that those individuals feature in photos that they are uploading to the site, an EU privacy watchdog has said. The Article 29 Working Party said, though, that the networks can process the images legitimately without the consent of those featured in […]

A new study out of Carnegie Mellon University warns of the possible dangers of tagging photos online, and reports that the risk of identity theft rises when social media profiles get paired with facial recognition software. According to privacy expert Alessandro Acquisti, Assistant Professor of IT and Public Policy, “combining this kind of software with […]