One Billion Users' Face And Fingerprint Recognition Data Will Be Deleted From Facebook, Why?

Facial and fingerprint recognition data, will be deleted from Facebook. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - Due to public concern over Facebook's facial recognition system technology, which automatically identifies users in photos and videos, the company said it would soon remove the tool.

Not only that, Facebook is also removing the fingerprints of more than a billion people in the coming weeks. Users, of course, are worried that the data will be misused by the government, police, and others.

“This change will represent one of the biggest changes in the use of facial recognition in the history of technology,” said Meta Vice President, Jerome Pesenti.

Pesenti added that the public is concerned especially because regulators have not provided clear rules, "Regulators are still in the process of providing a clear set of rules governing their use. Amid this ongoing uncertainty, we believe that limiting the use of facial recognition to a narrow set of use cases is right," Pesenti said as quoted by ABC News, Wednesday, November 3.

According to reports, more than a third of Facebook's daily active users, or about 640 million people choose to have their faces recognized by the social networking system. Facebook introduced facial recognition more than a decade ago but is gradually opting out of the feature as it faces scrutiny from courts and regulators.

Facebook in 2019 stopped automatically recognizing people in photos and suggesting people tag them. Critics say facial recognition technology popular with retailers, hospitals and other businesses for security purposes can compromise privacy, target marginalized groups and normalize intrusive surveillance.

Pesenti said that its automatic alt-text tool, which creates image descriptions for visually impaired people, will no longer include the names of recognized people in photos after the removal of facial recognition.

The company has not ruled out using facial recognition technology in other products, saying it still sees it as a powerful tool for identity verification for example.

"Face recognition can be invaluable when the technology operates privately on a person's device. This facial recognition method on devices, which does not require face data communication with external servers, is most often used today in systems used to unlock smartphones," explains Pesenti.

Apple uses this kind of technology to power the Face ID system to unlock the iPhone. Facebook isn't the only company to discontinue facial recognition, IBM has permanently ended sales of facial recognition products, and Microsoft Corp and Amazon Inc have suspended sales to police indefinitely.