Page 23 - PCWorld (September 2019)

companies—punishment for Facebook’s recognition technology, and obtain
unwillingness to adhere to another, separate
2012 FTC order that also governed user
data privacy. As many have noted, the
$5 billion fine is a slap on the wrist: Facebook
recorded $15 billion in revenue for the
March 2019 quarter alone.
Many of the changes the FTC will enforce
will be structural, and their impact on how
Facebook does business can’t be accurately
predicted. Probably the most significant will
be the creation of an independent privacy
committee, named by the company’s board.
Those members can be fired only by a
supermajority of the board itself. That’s
significant, as chief executive Mark
Zuckerberg personally owns a majority of
Facebook shares, giving him control over
the company.
Facebook will also be forced to name
privacy compliance officers, who must be
approved by the board’s privacy committee.
These privacy officers will be responsible for
enforcing the FTC order, and will provide
quarterly certifications to the FTC that they’re
adhering to it. Once a year, Zuckerberg and
the privacy committee will also be subject to
an annual review by the FTC.
HOW FACEBOOK WILL BE
ALLOWED TO USE FACIAL
RECOGNITION
FTC: Facebook must provide clear and
conspicuous notice of its use of facial
affirmative express user consent prior to any
use that materially exceeds its prior
disclosures to users.
The most immediate, direct impact on
Facebook users will be in facial recognition
and phone numbers. The background details
are spelled out in a separate suit (go.pcworld.
com/ftfb) being brought by the Department
of Justice against Facebook, which seeks
additional civil penalties in addition to the fine
that Facebook agreed to.
Facebook uses facial recognition to “tag”
people in your photos. In addition to the social
aspects, Facebook now says it uses facial
recognition to alert you to photos that others
have uploaded with you in them, conceivably
without your consent. Facebook also uses
photos to verify that you are who you say you
are, as part of account authorization.
With Facebook, though, it’s never simple.
The DOJ suit alleges the step-by-step
methods Facebook used to convince you to
turn on facial recognition. What the DOJ
objected to was that Facebook essentially
turned on facial recognition to 30 million
existing users without their consent, and an
additional 30 million new users were opted in
to facial recognition without consent.
One question left unanswered is whether
the FTC’s new order will satisfy the DOJ, whose
separate suit was also filed in late July. Another,
of course, is how Facebook will treat facial
recognition that a user has already opted in to.
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