The companies insist that gathering data on what you look like isn’t against the law, even without your permission. Facebook encourages users to “tag” people in photographs they upload in their personal posts and the social network stores the collected information. Facebook has “cleverly got its users to improve the accuracy of its own database,” he said. While most of the earlier privacy lawsuits relied on federal wiretap laws, the facial recognition cases hinge on the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. “Everybody is scrambling for advantage.”Facebook v. Privacy Law■ December 2005 — Facebook introduces photo tagging■ October 2008 — Illinois adopts Biometric Information Privacy Act■ June 2012 — Facebook acquires Israeli facial recognition developer Face.com■ September 2012 — Facebook ceases facial recognition in Europe■ 2015-2016 — Facebook, Google, Shutterfly and Snapchat sued under Illinois biometrics law.

Source: Mint October 27, 2016 04:11 UTC