A free facial cognizance device that approves human beings to discover snap shots of themselves or others from round the net has drawn criticism from privateers campaigners.

PimEyes describes itself as a privateers device to assist stop misuse of images.

But Big Brother Watch stated it should "enable nation surveillance, business monitoring and even stalking on a scale until now unimaginable".

It comes as Amazon decides to pause its use of facial awareness for a year.

Polish internet site PimEyes used to be set up in 2017 as a interest project, and commercialized final year. It presently has 6,000 customers signed up.

Attention was once drawn to it following an article posted on Medium.

The internet site approves humans to add any image for free and it will then discover matching pics from round the web, drawing on publicly on hand websites such as Tumbler , information stores and blogs.
Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch , "To see this effective surveillance tech marketed to people is chilling. It's ripe for stalking and places female and teens at unheard of risk."

In response, PimEyes said: "Our privateers coverage prevents human beings from the use of our device for this case. Every device ought to be used in the incorrect way."
it categorically did no longer use snap shots scraped from social media,
"If you observed faces which have been posted solely on Facebook that ability that anyone else has posted it someplace else. We crawl solely web sites that agree in their regulations for crawling," it stated in an email.

Using social media pics has bought facial consciousness association Clear view AI into trouble. It gathered extra than three billion images from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which are used by using the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and 600 different regulation enforcement businesses round the world to discover suspects.

All three social networks have requested it to cease doing so.

PimEyes affords a top rate carrier that lets in human beings to enter up to 25 photos of extraordinary humans and get indicators every time new pix are uploaded online. Currently it has 350 lively customers of this service.

The premise of the internet site was once to assist people "fight for their personal on-line privacy", such as discovering faux profiles, leaked photographs and unauthorized image usage.

It recounted that it did work with police forces, feeding into Paliscope, a software program device used by way of regulation enforcement agents.

But it has eliminated a reference on its internet site about looking the darkish net for the police.

According to PimEye's website, photographs uploaded to the website online are "never saved or indexed". Instead it says it makes use of a fingerprint of a face - the foremost elements - which is encoded and quickly saved on its servers.
Amazon ban
Facial attention science has grow to be increasingly more controversial as greater police forces round the world undertake the tools.

Several research query how correct the technological know-how is, suggesting that it performs specially poorly when figuring out black people.

In the wake of protests over the killing of George Floyd and calls for police reform, IBM and Amazon have each stopped the use of facial attention technology.

In Amazon's case, police use of its Rekognition software program has been paused for a yr to permit the US authorities to determine how it needs the science to be used in future.

The social network sues domain name registrar Namecheap.

Facebook said Thursday that it's suing Namecheap and Whoisguard for providing website addresses that impersonate the social network and can be used for frauds and scams.

The lawsuit is part of the company's efforts to crack down on domain names that aren't actually tied to Facebook and the apps it owns but that appear to be. Such misleading domain names include instagrambusinesshelp.com, facebo0k-login.com and whatsappdownload.site. In a similar lawsuit filed in October, Facebook sued web hosts OnlineNIC and ID Shield over trademark infringement and cybersquatting.

"These domain names can trick people into believing they are legitimate and are often used for phishing, fraud and scams," said Christen Dubois, Facebook's director and associate general counsel for intellectual property litigation, in a blog post.

The lawsuit, filed in Arizona, also accuses Namecheap of trademark infringement. It alleges that Namecheap's service Whoisguard registered or used 45 domain names that could deceive people into thinking they're associated with Facebook. The social network alleges that Whoisguard declined to cooperate after Facebook asked for more information about these names. Facebook said it sent notices to Whoisguard between October 2018 and February 2020.

"We don't want people to be deceived by these web addresses, so we've taken legal action," Dubois said in the blog post.

A spokesman for Namecheap didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Facebook gives WHO free ads to cut down coronavirus misinformation

CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to make sure people "can access credible and accurate" updates on the outbreak, and WHO praised the support as "invaluable."

Facebook is letting the World Health Organization advertise for free to try to combat misinformation on the coronavirus outbreak. The social network wants people to feel confident that information is "credible and accurate," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post late Tuesday.

"If you search for coronavirus on Facebook, you'll see a pop-up that directs you to the World Health Organization or your local health authority for the latest information," he wrote. "If you're in a country where the WHO has reported person-to-person transmission, you'll also see it in your News Feed."

Zuckerberg said his site is working with various countries' health ministries, as well as UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Facebook also plans to offer free ads to other groups.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, responded to Zuckerberg's post on Wednesday, thanking the social media site for making "robust contributions" to the fight against COVID-19. 

"To stop the new coronavirus from spreading, it is essential that users of social media, search platforms and digital devices have easy access to evidence-based advice, in their languages, and be spared dangerous falsehoods," wrote Ghebreyesus. "There's no time like the present for the digital world to show solidarity and create innovative solutions to promote health and keep the world safe."

In an email to CNET, WHO Manager Digital Solutions Andy Pattison said the support the WHO has been getting from social media platforms and large tech companies like Facebook is "invaluable."

"The offer to allow us to advertise for free across Facebook will greatly help us reach populations with advice and guidance tailored to their specific needs adapted to local context and languages," he wrote.

The new strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, causes a pneumonia-like illness and was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December. It has now infected nearly 96,000 people and caused more than 3,200 deaths globally.

Misinformation and conspiracy theories about the illness have spread via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. Last week, Facebook banned ads that guarantee cures or ways to prevent the disease.

Last week, the company canceled its F8 developer conference over coronavirus concerns, and this week it withdrew from the SXSW conference and festivals.

The global tech industry is being rattled by the virus as conferences are canceled and Apple and Microsoft warn investors.

The novel coronavirus  continues to wreak havoc in the global technology industry. Many companies have shut factories and banned business-related travel and major industry events like Facebook's F8, the Geneva Motor Show, Google I/O and Mobile World Congress continue to be called off because of the outbreak.

COVID-19 was discovered in the Wuhan region of China's Hubei province late last year and has symptoms similar to those of pneumonia. It was first reported to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31, with Chinese scientists linking the disease to a family of viruses that includes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome). The disease has killed more than 3,200 people, and more than 94,000 people have been infected in more than 60 countries.

Facebook

• Canceled its F8 developer conference, the company's biggest event of the year at which CEO Mark Zuckerberg updates the world on Facebook's developments and challenges; will hold local gatherings for developers and online events instead.
• Curtailed employee travel to China.
• Canceled a marketing summit scheduled for early March, which was expected to draw 4,000 people.

• Apple

  • Said it will miss its quarterly revenue guidance because of the effects of the coronavirus.
  • Temporarily shuttered all of its 42 stores in mainland China, one of its biggest and most important markets; closed its corporate offices and contact centers in China.
  • Has been forced to seek alternative sources for parts after suppliers in Wuhan closed because of the outbreak in that city.

  • Google

    • Temporarily closing all its offices in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
    • Restricted business travel to China and Hong Kong.
    • Told employees with immediate family members returning from China to work from home for at least 14 days.

    • Microsoft

      • Warned investors that revenue in the business segment that includes its Windows operating system and Surface devices would likely miss earlier forecasts.

      • Microsoft

        • Warned investors that revenue in the business segment that includes its Windows operating system and Surface devices would likely miss earlier forecasts.

        • Uber

          • Temporarily suspended roughly 240 user accounts in Mexico to prevent the spread of coronavirus after those users had come in contact with two drivers possibly exposed to the virus.