California Company Settles FTC Allegations It Deceived Consumers about use of Facial Recognition in Photo Storage App

California Company Settles FTC Allegations It Deceived Consumers about use of Facial Recognition in Photo Storage App

• The proposed settlement requires Everalbum to delete:
  • the photos and videos of Ever app users who deactivated their accounts;
  • all face embeddings—data reflecting facial features that can be used for facial recognition purposes—the company derived from the photos of Ever users who did not give their express consent to their use; and
  • any facial recognition models or algorithms developed with Ever users’ photos or videos.
  • A California-based developer of a photo app has settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that it deceived consumers about its use of facial recognition technology and its retention of the photos and videos of users who deactivated their accounts.
  • As part of the proposedsettlement, Everalbum, Inc. must obtain consumers express consent before using facial recognition technology on their photos and videos.
  • The proposed order also requires the company to delete models and algorithms it developed by using the photos and videos uploaded by its users.
  • Using facial recognition, companies can turn photos of your loved ones into sensitive biometric data, Andrew Smith, Director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection, said.
  • Ensuring that companies keep their promises to customers about how they use and handle biometric data will continue to be a high priority for the FTC.
  • Everalbum allegedly enabled facial recognition by default for all mobile app users when it launched the Friends feature.
  • The FTCs complaint alleges that Everalbums application of facial recognition to Ever app users photos was not limited to providing the Friends feature.