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EnergyFacebook suspends photo tagging option in Europe
Filed under: Your Rights
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Julian Stratenschulte/DPA/Press Association Images
So why has it taken this step, and what does it mean for you?
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At the moment, Facebook runs facial recognition on photos you upload, and if there's a registered Facebook user in your photo it suggests that you tag them.The Data Protection Commissioner of Ireland carried out a review of all sorts of aspects of Facebook at the end of last year, and concluded that the way that the Tag Suggest feature had been introduced was inappropriate. It was worried about the way Facebook had gone about securing people's consent to be suggested in photographs.
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At the time, the Commissioner, Billy Hawkes, made a number of suggestions, and he has just carried out a review of how Facebook has responded to his recommendations.
In the case of Tag Suggest, Facebook has gone further than requested, disabled the function in Europe, and pledged to delete all the templates of EU users it was storing in order to recognise their faces. This will be done by 15 October.
What it means
In the interim you will still be able to tag photos - it's just that it will be up to you to do it, rather than rely on something automatic.This doesn't mean the feature is gone forever. It will come back, but users will be much clearer about what they are giving their consent to. Richard Allan, Facebook director of policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: "The EU has looked at the issue of securing consent for this kind of technology and issued new guidance. Our intention is to reinstate the tag-suggest feature, but consistent with new guidelines. The service will need a different form of notice and consent."
Facebook has suggested that one option will be a notification at the top of the page when you log in. If you click on the notification it will allow you to explore how the feature works. Then if you click to allow it or reject it, this notification will disappear. If you don't click on it, it will appear twice more - in successive log ins. Facebook has said it will start just by suggesting confirmed friends in pictures, and discuss with the commissioner if it ever intended to extend the network of people who could be suggested.
Ongoing worries
In this particular instance, it appears Facebook is going above and beyond in order to secure users. However, this doesn't mean an end to privacy rows.The audit threw up a host of concerns. A huge number of them have been addressed and dealt with in the six months since the audit was first published. However, a few remain outstanding.
In some cases, the Commissioner has said it will revisit the issue in a month. These include whether photos marked to be deleted were actually being deleted within 40 days - to comply with Irish data protection laws. It also wants a retention policy on data held in inactive or de-activated accounts - which will involve contacting users for their permission to continue to hold the data.
In other cases, Facebook is standing its ground. So, for example, the Commissioner said: "There does not appear to be a compelling case as to why a member cannot decide to prevent tagging of them once they fully understand the potential loss of control and prior notification that comes with it."
However, Facebook responded that users had the ability to manage and delete tagging, so they didn't have any plans to allow users to prevent tagging.
On the one hand, therefore, data protection bodies are on the case, protecting users from any potential social media exposure, and working with the huge brands to ensure the privacy of users is not eroded entirely.
On the other hand, however, there does seem to be a limit to what these bodies can do when it comes to changing the way these companies do business.
In the end, it's up to us to understand the risks and potential exposures and decide for ourselves if it's worth it. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments.
10 of the biggest consumer rip-offs
- 1. Mobile data roaming charges<p> <span style="text-align: left; ">Using a mobile phone to make and receive calls, send texts and browse the web while abroad can be extremely costly – especially if you are travelling outside the European Union (EU), where calls can cost up to 10 times as much as at home.</span></p> <div> </div> <div> To avoid high charges, Carphone Warehouse suggests tourists ensure a data cap is in place, use applications to check data usage, turn off 'data roaming', avoid data-intensive applications such as Google Maps and YouTube and use wi-fi spots to update social networking sites.</div>
- 2. PPI<p> <span style="text-align: left; ">Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) is supposed to help people to continue meeting their loan, mortgage or credit card repayments if they fall ill or lose their jobs. However, policies are often over-priced, riddled with exclusions and sold to people who could not make a claim if they needed to.</span></p> <div> </div> <div> At one point, sale of this cover - which was often included automatically in loan repayments - was estimated to boost the banks' profits by up to £5 billion a year.</div> <div> </div> <div> Now, though, consumers who were mis-sold PPI can fight back by complaining to the bank or lender concerned and taking their case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (08000 234567) should the response prove unsatisfactory.</div>
- 3. The Lottery<p> It could be you, but let's face it, it probably won't be. In fact, buying a ticket for the Lotto only gives you a 1 in 13.9 million chance of winning the jackpot.</p> <div> </div> <div> With odds like that, you would almost certainly be better off hanging on to your cash and saving it in a high-interest account.</div>
- 4. Budget airlines<p> No-frills airlines such as EasyJet may promote rock-bottom prices on their websites. But the overall fare you pay can be surprisingly high once extras such as luggage and credit card payment fees have been added - a process known as drip pricing.</p> <div> </div> <div> Taking one piece of hold baggage on a return EasyJet flight, for example, adds close to £20 to the cost of your flight, while paying by credit card increases the price by a further £10.</div> <div> </div> <div> It may therefore be worth comparing the total cost with that of a flight with a standard airline such as British Airways.</div>
- 5. Credit card cash withdrawals<p> Cash advances, which include cash withdrawals, are generally charged at a much higher rate of interest than standard purchases.</p> <div> </div> <div> While the average credit card interest rate is around 17%, a typical cash withdrawal of £500, for example, is charged at more than 26%.</div> <div> </div> <div> What's more, as the interest accrues from the date of the transaction, rather than the next payment date, costs will mount up even if you clear your balance in full with your next payment.</div>
- 6. Supermarket 'deals'<p> Supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda often run promotions under which you can, for example, get three products for the price of two.</p> <div> </div> <div> However, it is only worth taking advantage of these deals if you will actually use the products. Otherwise, you are simply buying for the sake of it, which is a waste of your hard-earned cash.</div> <div> </div> <div> To avoid paying over the odds, it is also worth checking the price per kilo to ensure that larger <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/05/24/supermarkets-slammed-for-multi-buy-rip-offs/">'economy' packs really are cheaper</a> than the smaller versions.</div>
- 7. Train fares<p> Buy a train ticket at the station on the day of travel and the price is likely to give you a shock - especially if you are travelling a long distance at a busy time of day.</p> <div> </div> <div> However, <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/03/13/how-to-cut-the-cost-of-your-commute/">you can cut the cost of train travel</a> by 50% or more by going online and making the purchase beforehand - especially if you book 12 weeks in advance, which is when the cheapest tickets are on sale.</div> <div> </div> <div> Other ways to reduce the price you pay include avoiding peak times and taking advantage of so-called carnet tickets, which allow you to buy, for example, 12 journeys for the price of 10.</div>
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- 9. Overseas withdrawals/card payments<p> Overseas money transfers or travel money purchases attract the same high rate of interest as credit card cash withdrawals.</p> <div> </div> <div> Worse still, most credit cards – and debit cards – also charge you a foreign loading fee if you use them to make purchases while abroad.</div> <div> </div> <div> You can, however, <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/02/17/how-to-avoid-overseas-bank-fees/">avoid these charges</a> by using a Saga Platinum or Nationwide Building Society credit card.</div>
- 10. Premium rate phone lines<p> Numbers starting 0871 cost 10p or more from a landline, while those starting 09 can cost more than £1 a minute <a href="http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/03/21/call-0800-0808-and-0870-numbers-for-free-from-your-mobile/">from a mobile phone</a>.</p> <div> </div> <div> And the operators of these high-cost phone lines, some of which are banks, often get a cut of the call charges.</div> <div> </div> <div> Most 09 numbers are linked to scams and should therefore be avoided at all costs, while 0871 numbers can often be bypassed by searching for an alternative local rate numbers on the saynoto0870.com.</div>
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