Europeans are a few years ahead of us Americans when it comes to concerns over online privacy. While there have been some rumbles from American watchdog groups about Facebook and its opaque privacy policies, it hasn’t exactly been a national discussion. Not true in Norway, where the Norwegian Data Protection Agency began a probe last month into Facebook’s monitoring software, citing concerns about the privacy of Norwegian citizens.
Facebook’s facial recognition software, which can scan pictures and match pictures to both your friends’ photos and your own, suggesting possible tags, has the Norwegian government somewhat concerned. Like most of us, they have no idea how it works. Unlike most of us, that bothers them to the point that they launched an investigation. “It’s a very powerful tool Facebook has and it’s not yet clear how it all really works,” Bjorn Erik Thon, Norway’s data- protection commissioner, told Bloomberg in an interview. “They have pictures of hundreds of millions of people. What material Facebook has in its databases is something we need to discuss with them.”
Ireland, which serves as Facebook’s main European hub, is also auditing the company’s privacy practices, and is working in conjunction with the Norwegian investigation.
If you want to disable Facebook’s photo recognition software on your own account, then check out the guide listed below:
How to disable Facebook’s photo recognition software
Recommended Resources
BitDefender Safego is a Facebook application you can install that will scan your News Feed and help keep you safe from scams on Facebook.
PRIVATE WiFi® is a Personal VPN that encrypts everything you send and receive. Don’t access Facebook from a public WiFi hotspot without it.
Do Not Track + is a FREE browser plugin created by Abine. This easy to install plugin keeps websites from tracking you. If you value your online privacy, then you should definitely take advantage of this free product.
Action Alert | Free Parental Control offers a 100% free Internet safety solution designed for parents. There is also a Maximum Protection option for parents that need a more advanced set of tools.