Privacy concerns prevent Facebook from releasing 'Moments' face-recognition technology in Europe
'Regulators have told us we have to offer an opt-in choice to people to do this,' says Facebook spokesperson
Facebook will not launch its new feature based on face recognition in Europe because of regulators' privacy concerns about the technology.
The social media behemoth launched its new Moments feature in the US earlier this week. The new addition gives uses a "private way to share photos with friends" and uses facial recogition software to identify the people in the images.
However, Moments will not be released on this side of the Atlantic until Facebook can come to an agreement with the European Union about how the technology should be implemented.
"Regulators have told us we have to offer an opt-in choice to people to do this," Richard Allan, Facebook's head of policy in Europe told The Wall Street Journal. "We don't have an opt-in mechanism so it is turned off until we develop one."
The arrival of Moments coincided with representatives from privacy organisations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union choosing to withdraw from talks with the US government about a code of conduct for facial recongition technology.
"At a base minimum, people should be able to walk down a public street without fear that companies they've never heard of are tracking their every movement - and identifying them by name - using facial recognition technology," the groups said in a joint statement.
"Unfortunately, we have been unable to obtain agreement even with that basic, specific premise."
Facebook and its attitudes to privacy have recently come under massive scrutiny by European regulators and privacy watchdogs.
Just this week, Belgium's Privacy Commission announced its intention to take Facebook to court, accusing the social media giant of breaking European privacy laws in the way it tracks users and even those who do not have a Facebook account.
"It's not because we want to start a lawsuit over this, but we cannot continue to negotiate through other means," said Willem Debeuckelaere, president of the Belgian Privacy Commission, who added that the action is "chiefly aimed at protecting internet users who are not Facebook members".
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