What's With the Facebook Notifications About New Facial Recognition Features?

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. As Facebook confronts a lawsuit over how it collects and uses biometric data, the social network is notifying more users about new facial recognition features that may infringe upon their privacy. Many people who logged onto Facebook this week were greeted with a News Feed alert detailing the new tools available through facial recognition software. Some people are receiving a notification saying that the "setting is on," while for others, it says "the setting is off." It's possible that the difference has to do with existing settings the user had selected.