back to article Facebook used facial recognition without consent 200,000 times, says South Korea's data watchdog

Facebook, Netflix and Google have all received reprimands or fines, and an order to make corrective action, from South Korea's government data protection watchdog, the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC). The PIPC announced a privacy audit last year and has revealed that three companies – Facebook, Netflix and …

  1. rjed
    Devil

    take a page out of GDPR for enforcing fines

    Facebook's revenue for 12 months ending June 2021 was $105bn (up ~40% YoY).

    Fines of $5.5m + $22K ... I don't think Zuck's team will even bat an eye. In fact, if anything, this would embolden them to even care less about carrying out such malpractices in your country in the future.

    Take a page out of the GDPR framework where the fines are decided based on the proportion of yearly revenues. Doing facial recognition without consent.. shame on you Facebook.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Devil

      Re: take a page out of GDPR for enforcing fines

      Or out of China's Didi response and shut them down in South Korea until they comply.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: take a page out of GDPR for enforcing fines

      "Doing facial recognition without consent.. shame on you Facebook."

      They're just doing what it says on the tin. Face is right there in the name :-)

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It’s called FACEbook people

    You get whatever they decide to do.

    Just stay away.

  3. Potemkine! Silver badge

    Is this a joke?

    So Netflix was fined US$2,700. Netflix annual net income for 2020 was $2.761B

    The fine represents 0,000098 % of last year net income. Woah.... how deterrent! Netflix must have a bigger bill in paper clips.

    1. anonymousI
      FAIL

      Re: Is this a joke?

      Yep, that'll really teach them not to play silly buggers with the rights of their users...

    2. AnonEMusk Noel

      Re: Is this a joke?

      These poultry fines are chickenfeed

  4. Anonymous South African Coward Silver badge

    Facebook has been ordered to destroy facial information collected without consent or obtain consent, and was prohibited from processing identity numbers without legal basis. It was also ordered to destroy collected data and disclose contents related to foreign migration of personal information. Zuck's brainchild was then told to make it easier for users to check legal notices regarding personal information.

    Zuck's gonna laugh, and proceed as usual.

    Glad we are not on Fartbook/Faecebook anymore. A polished turd is still a turd.

  5. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    So 26 million won is $22,000

    The dollar is officially at 1 164 won.

    The average monthly salary in South Korea is apparently 3 890 000 won, which would mean $3 352. Not too shabby, I guess.

    But I have a question : can you buy anything for 1 won in South Korea ? Because it seems to me that they like seeing large numbers on their paychecks, but in their daily life they have to use fistfuls of cash to pay for a coffee. What's the point ?

    1. My-Handle

      Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

      Asking "What's the point?" suggests that they did it deliberately. Currencies with large numbers like this usually indicate periods of high inflation in a country's economic past.

      Often they don't end up having to use "fistfuls of cash", they just usually pay with bills or coins that represent, say 1,000 won rather than £1. You probably can't buy anything for 1 won, in a similar way that you can't really buy anything for a penny in England.

      1. Dr Paul Taylor

        Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

        For a long time, the unit of currency in Italy was the "mila".

        1. KBeee

          Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

          I made someone a "Millionaire" around 20 years ago by sending them an old Turkish Lira note that cost me about £2. Oh how they laughed (not)

      2. AMBxx Silver badge

        Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

        Or crap decision making - when the Euro was created, the French insisted on having a 1/2 cent coin.

        At least in the UK, we abolished first the farthing, then the halfpenny. I'd assume that the 1p and 2p are on borrowed time, returning us to having 20 x 5p per £. The shilling is reborn!

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

          "At least in the UK, we abolished first the farthing, then the halfpenny."

          Actually, we did that twice :-)

          The new 1/2p decimal coin was closer in value to the older 1d coin and the old 1/2d coin would have needed a new decimal)!!) farthing as a replacement, so the 1/2d was abolished with decimalisation. Later, of course, the "new" 1/2p coin was abolished too, which is probably what you were referring to :-)

      3. Wolfclaw
        Trollface

        Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

        I can still buy 1p chews from local shop.

    2. iron

      Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

      When I was a kid you could get 5 or more dollars to the pound. What was the pont in a worthless currency like the dollar?

      Do you now realise how offensive your comment is?

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

        FWIW, so what? How or why is it offensive? When I was 6 months old, my parents bought a 3-bed semi-detached, back and front gardens, driveway and garage for the princely sum of £4,500. It was sold for about £200,000 a few years ago. Currency deflation happens. My first job paid 75p/hr and that was a decent rate at the time. Today, even if that job paid minimum wage, I'd be getting £4.62/hr. I'd probably only have the same spending power though. (not accounting for all the new stuff that might be seen as essential by a modern 16yo :-))

      2. Sam Therapy

        Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

        Erm, no. The US Dollar has never been even equal to 4 to the pound. Close to, but not equal. I don't think it's happened in living memory, etither, unless you're about 200 years old.

        1. Trigonoceps occipitalis

          Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

          The Pound to Dollar rate reached a high of $2.649 on 6th Mar 1972. That remains the strongest the Pound has been against USD since it freely floated in 1971.

          Prior to the 1970s, the Pound to Dollar rate was fixed at a level set by the British government.

          For much of the 1800s and early 1900s, the rate was maintained at around $5 for every £1.

          In 1940, the British government devalued the Pound to around $4 for every £1. Two further devaluations occurred in the 1960s before the Pound became a freely floating currency in 1971.

          keycurrency.co.uk

          1. Sam Therapy

            Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

            Quite so. I stand corrected.

            Somehow, I'd got it into my head the old "dollar for a crown" was a myth.

      3. Trigonoceps occipitalis

        Re: So 26 million won is $22,000

        "When I was a kid you could get 5 or more dollars to the pound."

        Hence, as the exchange rate passed through 4$ to the £ the phrase "half a dollar" was used to describe the half-crown coin - a crown being five shillings in old money.

  6. Cuddles
    Gimp

    Could be worse

    "Facebook has been ordered to destroy facial information collected"

    For all the issues with Facebook et al, in a proper cyberpunk dystopia this would end up a lot worse for those poor users' faces.

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