According to the NYTimes, investigators in Germany are re-opening an investigation of Facebook facial recognition technology. The investigation was suspended in June that officials tried to convince Facebook to change their policies and procedures. These efforts bore no fruit, and which resulted in Germany re-opening of the investigation. According to Johannes Caspar, the principal investigator, "We have met repeatedly with Facebook, but was not able to get their cooperation on this issue, which has serious implications for personal data."
the current technology of facial recognition is opt default and users and users have now explicitly opt-out to be removed from the program. Germany asked Facebook to destroy all the current database and users be selected initially and specifically opt-in if they wish to be included. Facebook denies that if they collect biometric data, it is legal in Ireland, where its European operations are headquartered, and they comply with all the laws of the European Union. Irish officials deny and say that discussions are ongoing.
If Germany continues to browse Facebook in court, they could refine Facebook up to 25,000 euros, or about 31,000 $, unless it chooses to destroy the database and change the system to opt-in from a single opt-out. Germany is struggling to establish its jurisdiction over Facebook that operations in the Hamburg office in Germany are limited to marketing and are not linked directly with the biometric data collection effort.
In an effort to clear up the muddy waters EU 'Senior Advisory Committee on Privacy ruled that the current biometric collection methods are illegal. That prompted Irish officials to reopen talks and harden their original position. Ciara O'Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the protection of Irish data agency, said they intended to publish the results of a new audit of Facebook's privacy practices in September.
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