Facebook Identifies You; Even Without Seeing Your Face

Facial recognition technology is not new. For several years, Facebook, Google+, and other social networks have been able to identify a person based on previous data (for example, other photos where the person has been identified) or at least make a good guess. However, Facebook is now testing new software that does not even require your face to be clearly visible in a photo to guess who you are! Facebook claims that this software can identify you with a high degree of accuracy (83%) based on your height, weight, body shape, hairstyle, and even the clothes you are wearing. Yann LeCun, the head of AI at Facebook, states: "You and I can identify others based on visual cues, so why can't software do the same? Our minds always use these cues to recognize others, which is why we can recognize people from behind. For example, Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook) always wears a gray t-shirt. Everyone knows that." But how does Facebook have access to all this information? Josh Robin, a media expert and manager at Daily Dot, tells CNN that no one is to blame but ourselves! He says that when we share hundreds or even thousands of photos of ourselves and our family members on Facebook—and other social networks—we are providing the engineers of these companies with data that allows them to design such advanced algorithms. The necessary data has been provided by us. Although Facebook has stated that it currently has no intention of selling or publicly offering this technology, privacy advocates are concerned that the possibility of keeping information private on the internet is decreasing day by day with technologies like this. Even if an individual wants to keep their identity hidden in photos and videos, the possibility of remaining anonymous becomes nearly impossible. On the other hand, there is also the issue of access (and spying) by government organizations such as the U.S. National Security Agency to this information.