Facebook has quietly expanded the availability of technology to automatically identify people in photos, renewing concerns about the privacy practices of the world’s top social networking service.
The feature, which Facebook automatically enabled for Facebook users, has been expanded from the US to “most countries”, Facebook said on its official blog.
Its “Tag Suggestions” feature uses facial recognition technology to speed up the process of labeling friends and acquaintances that appear in photos posted on Facebook.
The company’s rollout of the technology has raised eyebrows in some circles. Internet security consultant firm Sophos published a post on its company blog saying that many Facebook users are reporting that the site has enabled the facial recognition option in the last few days without giving users any notice.