May 07,2016: Facebook‘s plea to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the social networking giant’s photo tagging system violates user privacy was ruled out by a San Francsico Judge on Friday.
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook’s biometric software violates Illinois’s biometric information privacy act by violating user privacy as it creates faceprints without explicit consent.
The digital faceprints are used to identify users to suggest tags for uploaded photos and the photo-tagging system is disclosed in the company’s privacy policy.
Though User can opt out of it but it is unclear whether those measures will satisfy the legal definition of consent.
“The court accepts as true plaintiffs’ allegations that Facebook’s face recognition technology involves a scan of face geometry that was done without plaintiffs’ consent,” the judge ruled.
“This lawsuit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” says Facebook spokesperson.
But with the fresh decision, the plaintiffs — Carlo Licata, Adam Pezen and Indian-origin Nimesh Patel — have a valid claim under the Illinois biometrics law and the case can proceed.
This is not the first time Facebook’s photo tagging policy has faced criticism. Facebook faced similar privacy concerns in Europe and Canada, and it stopped using the facial-recognition technology in those regions.
Image Source: Economic Times
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