Facebook to shut down face-recognition system, delete data on a billion people's faceprints
Menlo Park, Nov 2: Facebook said it will shut down its face-recognition system and delete the faceprints of more than 1 billion people.
This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology's history, said a blog post Tuesday from Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence for Facebook's new parent company, Meta.
More than a third of Facebook's daily active users have opted in to our Face Recognition setting and are able to be recognized, and its removal will result in the deletion of more than a billion people's individual facial recognition templates.
He said the company was trying to weigh the positive use cases for the technology against growing societal concerns, especially as regulators have yet to provide clear rules.
More than a third of Facebook's daily active users have opted in to have their faces recognized by the social network's system.
That's about 640 million people. The setting's removal will mean deleting more than a billion people's individual facial recognition templates, Pesenti said.
Facebook had already been scaling back its use of facial recognition after introducing it more than a decade ago.
The company in 2019 ended its practice of using face recognition software to identify users' friends in uploaded photos and automatically suggesting they tag them. Facebook was sued in Illinois over the tag suggestion feature.
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BJP names 144 candidates in first list for Bengal polls, fields Suvendu from Bhabanipur
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Monday released its first list of 144 candidates for next month’s Assembly elections in West Bengal, fielding Suvendu Adhikari from Bhabanipur in Kolkata, a seat held by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
According to the list, Dilip Ghosh has been fielded from Kharagpur Sadar, Biman Mahto from Salboni, both in Paschim Medinipur district, while Swapan Dasgupta will contest the Rasbehari seat in south Kolkata.
Sumita Sinha will contest from Kanthi Uttar in Purba Medinipur district, Biman Ghosh from Pursurah in Hooghly district, while Madhavi Mahalder has been fielded from Kultali in South 24 Parganas district.
Anima Datta has been fielded from Palashipara in Nadia district, while Lakshikant Sahu has been named the BJP candidate from Jhargram, according to the list.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee had won from Bhabanipur in the bypoll held in 2021, which was crucial for her to continue as the chief minister after her defeat in Nandigram at the hands of Suvendu Adhikari.
The 294 seats in West Bengal will go to polls in two phases – April 23 and April 29 – with the counting scheduled on May 4.
