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German official says Facebook face recognition breaches privacy law
Nov 10, 2011, 17:12 GMT
Berlin - A data protection official in Germany declared Facebook in breach of data laws on Thursday and said he would soon fine the social networking site over its use of a software that recognizes users' faces.
Johannes Caspar, data protection commissioner of the state of Hamburg, said the social networking giant had ignored a deadline he set for it to remove the feature from its website.
But Facebook's Germany operation rejected his position, saying the feature satisfies German law because it is easy to disable.
The dispute is over software that automatically scans uploaded photographs and identifies users' faces.
Caspar says the software should only be made available to German users if they expressly request it online. His powers allow him to either fine Facebook or send a notice of infringement.
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