Google releases opt-in ‘Find My Face’ facial recognition tool

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From the beginning, Google has taken pains to build in privacy at the basic levels of Google+, likely learning from the missteps that competitor Facebook has made along the way.By Hayley Tsukayama, Published: December 9

So when Google launched a new photo-tagging feature, Find My Face, on its social network Thursday, it was a pleasant but not entirely unexpected surprise to find that Google has made the feature an opt-in.

 Since the company was founded in 1996, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have worked hard to live up to the company’s unofficial motto, “Do no evil.”

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There’s a big difference between opt-in and opt-out, and — as Joshua Topolsky points out in his column on Carrier IQ this week — that difference is choice. Functionally, Find My Face is nearly identical to Facebook’s facial-recognition “Tag Suggestions” program that automatically scans pictures posted to the network and offers suggestions about who may be in the photo.

Facebook felt the backlash from users who didn’t like that the social network turned on its facial-recognition feature by default, only later adding the option for users to opt-out of the tool. By not switching the feature on for all of its users first and then telling them they can back out of it second, Google looks like it’s offering rather than imposing a new function on its users.

Users will still be able to accept or reject tags, meaning you can put the kibosh on those pics that catch you mid-chew or mid-sentence.

The feature is rolling out to all users over the next few days, said Google+ photo engineer Matt Steiner in a post to his network profile. Users will be able to control the Find My Face feature through their Google+ setting.