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Facebook is being accused of violating the privacy of its users by collecting their facial data, according to a class-action lawsuit filed last week.

This data collection program led to its well-known automatic face tagging service. But, it also helped Facebook create “the largest privately held stash of biometric face-recognition data in the world,” writes Courthouse News Service. 

The lawsuit alleges that this facial recognition program violates the privacy of its users, citing an Illinois law called the Illinois Biometrics Information Privacy Acts, which requires companies to get written content from a user if it is collecting biometric data.  

Further, according to the statute, the company must state the purpose and length of its data collection program.

The lead plaintiff, Carlo Licata, claims that Facebook's biometric program shows “brazen disregard for its users’ privacy writes.” He added that the way changing user settings will not change what biometric data the company collects, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Facebook has been under fire over this feature for years. It first began offering the tagging service through a technology from Israeli company Face.com, which Facebook then acquired in 2012. 

A Senate hearing was held in 2012 to discuss this specific program. At the hearing, Facebook’s Robert Sherman rebutted that the “tag suggestions” program is “merely a ‘convenience feature’ and that users’ data is secure,” according to the report.

Courthouse News Service writes:

The company's faceprint database works only with its own software, and "alone, the templates are useless bits of data," Sherman said. He said that users can opt out of the feature and their data will be deleted.

In 2012, Facebook stopped offering the facial recognition feature in Europe due to privacy concerns, according to the New York Times.

Business Insider reached out to Facebook for comment. A spokesperson wrote, "This lawsuit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously."

Licata's intention is to get a court injunction that requires Facebook to put a halt to the program.

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NOW WATCH: This 9-year-old makes $1 million a year opening toys

Oh look a portal to Hell!

A large black ring of smoke appeared over Shortandy in Kazakhstan Friday, and it had a lot of people in the area scratching their heads.

The strange 100-meter wide shape lasted for only about 15 minutes before eventually fading away, according to the uploader of the video.

Kazakhstan’s Today.kz spoke with a physics professor named Andrey Solodovnik who thinks it was simply “a product of combustion” as opposed to a UFO or something more sinister.

Maybe we are already seeing some side effects of the Large Hadron Collider starting back up again?

Since the video was posted online some Redditors have pointed out similar sightings around the world that were caused by exploding transformers or generated on purpose at events like Burning Man.

So it probably wasn’t an alien invasion after all… unless that’s just what they want us to think.

The post Mystery of the Day: Black Ring of Smoke Spotted in Sky Above Kazakhstan appeared first on The Daily What.

The Kboard is a keyboard app you can download that handily removes all those unnecessary things from your current input device - like extra letters and things that aren't emoji. Because really, if you need more than "K," "Cool," and "lol," what kind of hip young millennial are you?

Two more screwups like this and Hostess will get a hat trick for their social media efforts. After that, it's the penalty box for them!

Beyoncé was featured on the long-running blog project Humans of New York, where she discussed the blessing (everyone remembers your name!) and curse (no one will stop singing "Single Ladies"!) of having a famous moniker. And just like that, the rest of the internet joined in to share their woes. Some of these names almost seem too good to be true. 

Hopefully now she knows that she isn't alone!

Why can’t the dog across the street from us act like this at midnight? This one is straight from The Big J, with thanks to Annamarie R. (And we get Bonus Wacky Studio Audience Interaction, too!これはとても面白いです！)

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: puppeh, The Big J

When NBA 2K14's online support was scheduled to shut down March 31 after 16 months in service, 2K Sports told PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players that their career save games would not be affected, and they could continue playing those careers offline. Turns out that's not true.

On March 31, 2K Sports deactivated servers for all editions of NBA 2K14. The PS4 and Xbox One edition, which launched with those consoles in November 2013, had a different save procedure for the MyCareer and MyGM modes: The default file save required an online check-in. Players discovered this when server problems at launch kept them out of playing their careers, even offline by themselves. It was possible to create a new offline file save, but that required...

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submitted by Lobo2ffs [link] [21 comments]

submitted by Lobo2ffs [link] [14 comments]

This LEGO arcade diorama brings back some sweet memories for me. I practically grew up in arcades, pumping quarters into these machines. Those were the days when gaming was a more social sport. When a kid could spend a small fortune of his parents’ money on any given afternoon. I met all of my friends there. Mario, Donkey Kong, Q*Bert and all the rest.

It was all about high scores back then. The folks from The Brick Show deserve their own high score for creating this awesome arcade diorama. They used their own custom pieces, which include arcade machines like Donkey Kong, Frogger, and Pac-Man There’s even Skee-Ball and tiny vending machines too.

Look how happy all of those minifigs are. Everyone loves an arcade. I hope they brought enough LEGO quarters.

[via Kotaku via Nerd Approved]

i scored the holy grail of blank cassettes at a thrift store for .70 cents, and i also scored a Sony Walkman for like $3, and it works! but i did waste like 30 mins looking for a working cassette player and none of them worked. im stoked this walkman works tho.. 

submitted by lenguyenduylam1994 [link] [487 comments]

Plenty of people have terrible ideas, but few people are bold enough to come up with a great terrible idea. I think Mark Wilson's car-that-turns-into-two-motorcycles is such a terrible idea that it's come full circle and I almost kind of love it.

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So, maybe your car isn't necessarily legal to drive. You've got expired tags, an expired inspection sticker, and even an expired property tax sticker. Maybe it's been that way for more than a year. And considering your daily commute is an hour each way, in traffic, on major highways, you can practically feel the cops closing in.

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Photo courtesy of Jolene Bestbier.
Found in South Africa. 

submitted by jet_tripleseven [link] [119 comments]

Maggie G. says “Bunnies are overrated! My aunt’s friend dresses her goats up for holidays. They seem to tolerate it fairly well.”

Our Easter Bunday Mini-Marathon continues…

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Baroo Of The Week™, Easter GoatDay 2015

submitted by Black_Santa_FTW
[link] [580 comments]