Facebook paid 9.2 million dong to some users who were ‘tagged’ in photos on the platform
Earlier this month, more than 1.4 million residents of Illinois (USA) began receiving checks for $ 397 (about 9.2 million VND). This is the settlement of a class-action Facebook lawsuit worth $650 million. According to the plaintiffs, Facebook illegally used its facial recognition data to suggest users tag friends in photos.
More checks are likely to be paid out to Internet users from privacy lawsuits, according to some experts. Google Photos and Shutterfly have also been sued by class action over the same issue. The two companies have entered the stage of agreeing and approving multimillion-dollar settlements over the past year.
Robbins Geller Rudman and Dowd LLP’s attorney Paul Geller, one of the three firms that settled the lawsuit against Facebook, said: “Technology has brought great things into our lives. Something like facial recognition still has a dark side to it. People don’t realize how much they’re being ‘followed’.”
Being automatically tagged in photos might not seem like a big deal, but once tagged, your face could be visible to companies outside of the platform. For example, New York-based software company Clearview AI says it has collected more than 20 billion images from sites like Facebook, YouTube and Venmo to form a massive facial recognition database. for companies that pay to buy them.
“When you’re walking down the street, everyone can see your face, but not everyone can know your name and a number,” says Matthew Kugler, a professor of privacy law at Northwestern University. other personal information.
Today’s technology’s ability to link faces to personal information can leave people vulnerable to harassment or even life-threatening (for someone in a witness protection program).”
In 2019, Kugler published research showing that Americans do not want to be “tracked” by such social networks or apps. Specifically, more than 70% of participants said they were uncomfortable with companies using facial recognition to know their location and thereby show relevant ads. Interestingly, most of the participants showed no concern about fingerprinting at work.
“It’s not that people value or don’t value biometric privacy, but what it means to value privacy varies a lot, depending on the context. We can still use the same technology,” says Kugler. for purposes that do no harm and still produce results”.
Long-running lawsuits over user privacy are already starting to have an impact. Earlier this month, Clearview AI agreed to stop granting some US companies access to its facial recognition database. Meanwhile, Facebook and Instagram users in Illinois and Texas were no longer able to access the “face filter” feature.
According to Kugler, in the coming time, there may be more similar lawsuits and agreements in US states. If that happens, a segment of users will likely receive the same amount of money as millions of residents of Illinois.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: genk.vn – Read the original article here
