Facebook’s Privacy Issues Are Even Deeper Than We Knew 'able to identify a face in a crowd'

[stockholmer]

http://blogs.forbes.com/chunkamui/2011/08/08/facebooks-privacy-issues-are-even-deeper-than-we-knew/?partner=yahootix

Questions about what social networks mean for personal privacy and security have been brought to a head by research at Carnegie Mellon University that shows that Facebook has essentially become a worldwide photo identification database. Paired with related research, we’re looking at the prospect where good, bad and ugly actors will be able identify a face in a crowd and know sensitive personal information about that person. These developments mean that we no longer have to worry just about what Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and other social sites do with our data; we have to worry about what they enable others to do, too. And it now seems that others will be able to do a lot.

As reported in various privacy and security outlets like Kashmir Hill’s Forbes blog http://blogs.forbes.com/kashmirhill/2011/08/01/how-face-recognition-can-be-used-to-get-your-social-security-number/ and Paul Roberts at ThreatPost, http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/how-facebook-and-facial-recognition-are-creating-minority-report-style-privacy-meltdown-080511 and demonstrated at last week’s Black Hat conference, http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-us-11/bh-us-11-briefings.html#Acquisti the CMU researchers relied on just Facebook’s public profile information and off-the-shelf facial recognition software. Yet the CMU researchers were able to match Facebook users with their pictures on otherwise anonymous Match.com accounts. The researchers also had significant success taking pictures of experimental subjects and matching them to their Facebook profiles.

Drawing upon previous research, they were also relatively successful at guessing individuals’ Social Security numbers. From there, of course, it is just an automated click to your Google profile, LinkedIn work history, credit report, and many other slices of private information. (See the FAQ to the research here.)http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/~acquisti/face-recognition-study-FAQ/

(Note that this research is independent of the controversy around Facebook’s own facial recognition technology, which it recently unveiled to automatically tag users in pictures—and which authorities in Germany think might violate its privacy laws. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/04/germany_no_to_facebook_facial_recognition/ The CMU researchers didn’t even have to log into Facebook to get to the photos there; they accessed profile information through Facebook’s search engine APIs.)


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[Atman]

1. At this point, who the fuck cares?

If you're posting on FB and expect any degree of privacy, you're a moron. I personally know a repo man who "friends" people on FB so he can find out their schedules and come "visit" them when the time is right. You have to know that if you put ANY information about yourself out on the web, you're giving others a way to find you. If you don't want to be found, for whatever reason, don't post on the fucking internet. Anywhere. Period.

I already have a personal web site that features my background, my portfolio, etc. The assholes over at "the Cave" found it quickly, they've made death threats against me, they've posted my place of employment...point being, if you're online, you're out there.

I fondly recall the seventies when we wouldn't even say "dope" on the telephone because we assumed every phone was bugged. Now, you stupid fucking kids tweet and "check-in" when you enter a bathroom stall at Starbucks, and then are shocked that someone invaded your privacy. You want privacy? Disconnect your fucking computer.

:rant:

.

[stockholmer]

3. what is 'The Cave' ?

:shrug:

I agree by the way, about being off the grid as a way of protecting privacy (although the very fact of not being plugged in is now dealt with as a sign of something wrong by many security state agencies and potential employers too - just as having no credit cards, loans, etc is now viewed negatively in your credit worthiness), but so so many people are now on FB and other media (people who do NOT post inane, privacy-robbing info), and one day they may simply be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and tied via facial recognition to an event that they had nothing to do with.

[TwilightGardener]

2. And the kicker is, people are gleefully VOLUNTEERING this info.