Facebook's new photo-tagging tool raises privacy concerns for users

Yet another feature introduced by Facebook has raised privacy concerns.

The social networking site is rolling out a tool that uses facial recognition technology and suggest to users which of their friends using the site they may wish to tag in photos.

The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is now talking to Facebook about the possible privacy information for the feature, which is available in most countries.

The ICO said in a statement that it expects Facebook to be "upfront about how people's personal information is being used".

In a posting about Facebook's photo-tagging tool on its site, Privacy International said it was monitoring the situation and said, "Don't get us wrong: we think it isn't a terribly good idea, and stupidly rolled out. But that's just our opinion, and many other people, in fact a surprising number of people from various places, have come out against the introduction of the system."

Although the social networking giant is not the one tagging photos of people, security experts such as Graham Clueley of Sophos are concerned about how quietly it was rolled out.

Clueley dislikes the fact that Facebook is "rather creepily" getting people's friends to do this.

Facebook said, "We should have been more clear with people during the rollout process when this became available to them. Tag Suggestions are now available in most countries and we'll post further updates to our blog over time."

Of course as with most things Facebook rolls out it is on an ‘opt-out' basis. The user has to disable this feature, but it is easy to do.

Our Communities editor Tim Smith explains how: "Click on Account at the top right of the Facebook page and click on Privacy Settings. Click on Customize settings underneath the table explaining the different privacy levels on your account.

"Scroll down to the ‘Things others share' section and click on the Edit settings button in the ‘Suggest photos of me to friends' section.

"A window will appear that explains in more detail exactly what Facebook will share with friends. Click on the Enabled button and then on Disable to stop this from happening. Click on OK to save the changes."