Facebook facial recognition proving problematic overseas

A German court ruledthat Facebook’s facial recognition software is in violation of German and European privacy laws.

The court gave Facebook until 7 November to amend its software to comply with German and EU laws or else it will face legal action.

“We have had extended negotiations with Facebook and have clearly stressed our position,” said Johannes Caspar, a government lawyer.

“We have given them until November 7,” Caspar said. “If our demands are not met, we will be obliged to take the legal path,” and force them to conform with the law, he said.

Facebook recently introduced a controversial new feature on its site that allows users to identify people through their online photos. The function has proved to be popular among users, but the German government says it violates both German and European data protection laws.

According to Caspar, an individual must give explicit consent to having their data recorded.

“When the data are recorded, Facebook has to have the explicit consent of the person concerned, which is not the case at the moment,” Caspar said.

In August, Germany ordered Facebook to delete all of the data that it had collected with its facial recognition application with the government stating that the data had been collected without the explicit consent of Facebook users.

The company refused to comply with the request.