The Next Big Scandal: Meta Can Access Your Private, Unpublished Photos
We know it is dangerous to shove our data down the throat of the data-hungry monster known as Facebook without a second thought. Rather insidiously, the Meta Group now wants photos on our smartphones, which were obviously intended only for our private viewing.
What would you say if you knew that Mark Zuckerberg's Meta was inconspicuously taking your private photos from your smartphones? This is exactly the problem that certain careless Facebook app users on mobile devices in the USA and Canada are now facing.
Facebook's privacy nightmare
TechCrunch reported that an increasing number of people in North America have been asked to agree to a new "cloud processing" policy. What is it all about when Facebook users see the corresponding pop-up? Nothing less than the photos you haven't uploaded for some reason. Yes, that's right: after you have publicly uploaded photos, Facebook also wants photos that you explicitly do not want others to look at!
The excitement surrounding the objection period for your data on Meta hasn't quite died down yet, so the blue giant is launching its next attack on your privacy. Some users have already posted corresponding screenshots, so the 'experiment' is already underway. It mentioned the following:
The best of your Camera Roll, put together especially for you: Get ideas for collages, retrospectives, AI restylings or for themes such as birthdays or graduations.
To develop ideas for you, we select media from your Camera Roll and continuously upload them to our cloud based on information such as time, location or themes.
No AI training with your private photos (yet!)
By agreeing with Meta, you agree that all photos you take with your smartphone will be uploaded to Meta's servers. As The Verge explained, Meta assured us that none of these images are currently being used to train Meta's AI.
As things stand at the moment, these suggestions are for your eyes only. Therefore, if an AI-generated image is created in a Ghibli style or a collage, it is up to you to decide whether to make it public. However, Meta has not explicitly ruled out the possibility that the collected data might be used to train its own AI in the future. Meta's rules definitely do not exclude this AI training, so you should be prepared for the worst.
Or to put it another way: The terms and conditions are malleable enough for Meta to use your data for AI training (and other shenanigans) at any time once you've given the green light. Facebook wants to harness this treasure trove of data to compete with Google, OpenAI, and others in launching the strongest and largest AI app possible.
What can you do about it?
The good news? If you have accidentally or carelessly tapped on Accept and thus shared all your photos, you can amend this in the settings. You will find two switches under "Camera Roll Sharing Suggestions". If these are deactivated, Meta will no longer suggest your images, either for suitable uploads or any AI games.
Even if your country remains unaffected, please keep your eyes peeled and do not blindly accept any changes to regulations from Meta lightly! We will inform you as soon as there are any changes to this topic, we promise!
