Facebook Contemplates Using Facial Recognition Technology to Verify User Identities

Any reason to use facial recognition technology will always be scrutinized by privacy advocates. Especially now that Facebook plans to use this technology for account verification, there is plenty of reason to be concerned. This new feature will allow users to quickly verify account ownership when recovering login credentials. It’s an interesting concept, although the public may see things very differently.

Facebook’s Facial Recognition Plans

While it is understandable that companies would want to beef up their security apparatus, there are many different ways of doing so. Over the past few years, Facebook has become a major target for criminals and scammers. In a lot of cases, users lose access to their social media profiles because someone has successfully guessed their password and changed it. Bringing an end to that type of fraud and identity theft is of the utmost importance, but it is not easy.

Facebook is exploring a bold option in this regard. More specifically, anyone who wants to recover their social media account in the future will have the option of going through a facial recognition process. It is unclear when this method will be implemented, though. For now, it doesn’t appear the new feature will be mandatory for all users, but it is certainly possible it may become a more common solution as far as Facebook is concerned.

The company explained its decision as follows:

“We are testing a new feature for people who want to quickly and easily verify account ownership during the account recovery process. This optional feature is available only on devices you’ve already used to log in. It is another step that were taking to make sure account owners can confirm their identity.”

It is certainly true accessing a locked or hacked account can be very problematic. There is never a foolproof way to determine whether or not the person trying to gain access is the legitimate account holder. Asking for identity verification documents is no foolproof solution, as that information can easily be stolen or faked. A more invasive form of technology is needed in this regard, and facial recognition solutions may be the best way to go, for now.

At the same time, there are people who will question this decision. That is only understandable, as we share a lot of private information on Facebook. Giving the platform access to facial recognition solutions as a way to confirm identities could end up causing more problems than it solves. No one company should have access to such vast amounts of personal information, as it poses a major security risk to users.

Moreover, there is the risk that Facebook would use facial recognition technology to spy on its users. It is possible the reason for implementing this technology may be far more nefarious than the company wants to let on right now. No one can deny there is a certain degree of distrust between Facebook and its users due to some of the more controversial decisions made by the company in recent years. This new venture will only cause more debate; that much is evident.