Pick 48 - Facebook

I usually try to keep the tone of this blog upbeat and engaging, however today I learned something about the hidden value in photos on Facebook that we might prefer to keep hidden...
Seems a data researcher by the name of  Alessandro Acquisti has developed a new data capture and analysis application that enables him to collect intimate information about anyone who posts photos on Facebook. All that is needed to start the search is a snapshot of the person of interest.

Acquisti has been working with a team of researchers to determine what personal information could be gleaned from a single digital photo. In one experiment, Acquisti and his team surveyed students at a North American college. The researchers shot a photograph of each participant, and then handed over a questionnaire to be completed on site. Even as students were completing the paperwork, their photos were being processed with facial recognition software scanning images from Facebook profiles. By the time the students had finished their anonymous questionnaires, the researchers were able to positively identify nearly one third of the individuals by name.

On first blink, this ability to identify a person by his or her photograph isn’t unsettling. However, Acquisti also showed how his team was able to use a known identity  to glean personal information such as social security numbers, birthdates and even current addresses.

In an earlier study, Acquisti and his team were able to predict the social security numbers of many living persons by comparing them to dead individuals who were assigned numbers at similar times, and in similar geographic locations.
In other words they found hidden value in a simple photograph placed on line in a social media forum such as Facebook. The photo links to a profile; the profile reveals sensitive, personal, information that may have immense hidden value to someone other than the person in the photo.

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