Social media users have expressed their outrage at Facebook’s plans to get users to send in their naked snaps before they are put up on the site by vindictive lovers.
The trial scheme will use image recognition technology to identify revenge porn and automatically delete it.
It has now emerged that employees of the firm will view the unedited sexy shots before blurring them out in an attempt to ensure they are never published.
Social media has erupted in response to the plans, questioning the approach on Twitter. Tony Matthew said: ‘No company should ever ask anyone for nude pics to “safeguard” under the guise of protection from revenge porn. Hackers can hack. Disgruntled employees can leak’
Facebook has now confirmed that a member of its community operations team will have to manually review images submitted under the pilot scheme, according to reports in Motherboard.
The trial, currently being tested in Australia, requires users to send naked pictures to themselves via Facebook Messenger.
Users must first report the images to the Australian government’s eSafety Commission.
Then they can upload the snap via Messenger and once a member of staff has confirmed that the image is in violation of the company’s policies, it will be blurred out.
Facebook will then ‘hash’ the image, creating a digital fingerprint.
If the technology works as expected, the photo should never appear on Facebook – even if a jealous ex tries to upload it.
Social media has erupted in response to the plans, questioning the approach on Twitter.
Many of the concerns revolve around people, rather than machines, having access to the images.
Others are worried about the effectiveness of the protection efforts, as well as the potential for the sensitive pictures leaking online.
Tony Matthew said: ‘No company should ever ask anyone for nude pics to “safeguard” under the guise of protection from revenge porn.
‘Hackers can hack. Disgruntled employees can leak.’
Eleonora H said: ‘I wish this was a joke.
Eleonora H said: ‘I wish this was a joke. Facebook’s idea of “protecting people” from revenge porn: send the company your nude pictures’
Mr Gillespie added: ‘Facebook themselves have perverts hiding in their closets. They would just love a nude collection of its users, with an excellent cover story about protecting people from revenge porn! #PervBook’
Laura E Wendt said: ‘Another solid reason to #quitFacebook. Facebook asks users for nude photos in project to combat revenge porn’
Whitney said: ‘Ewe! Facebook wants you to send them your nude pics in order to stop your ex from uploading them! Yeah right. #Scam’
Sofia Edvardsen said: ‘Facebook asks users in Australia for nude photos in project to combat revenge porn. Although a noble aim, I wonder about the privacy risks about this. Seems prone to error’
‘Facebook’s idea of “protecting people”from revenge porn: send the company your nude pictures.’
Mr Gillespie added: ‘Facebook themselves have perverts hiding in their closets.
‘They would just love a nude collection of its users, with an excellent cover story about protecting people from revenge porn! #PervBook.’
A Facebook spokesman said Britain, Canada and the United States are also expected to take part in the project.
If successful, the Facebook trial could be extended to other online platforms.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant told AFP the initiative empowers people to protect themselves against the unauthorised spread of intimate images.
She said: ‘It removes control and power from the perpetrator who is ostensibly trying to amplify the humiliation of the victim amongst friends, family and colleagues.
‘The precedent already exists for the sharing of child exploitation images and countering violent extremism online.
Bethanie Blanchard said: ‘This seems an imperfect solution to put it lightly. Also assumes you have a copy of the offending image / video yourself’
Josh Barnes responded: ‘imperfect is putting it lightly, if you don’t want anyone anywhere to see it why would you want to send it to a faceless Facebook employee to fit their definition of revenge porn
Rrorybaust added: ‘And I thought it was creepy body recognition, the more I think about this this is the best scam ever and then Facebook goes all revenge porn itself, maybe someone needs to rethink this’
Deirdre Connolly said’Facebook’s “revenge porn’ detector is probably using Photo DNA to compare images. Photo DNA is not really a cryptographic hash, but more of a histogram of gradients and edges parsed from the image.
Boxswapper said: ‘Nude photo hashing, to fight revenge porn. Editing the picture or throwing in some steganography = defeated signature. Try again Facebook’
‘By extending to image-based abuse we are taking the burden off the victims to report to multiple online platforms.’
Australia is among world leaders in efforts to combat revenge porn.
Its eSafety Commission launched an online portal last month, allowing victims to report cases where their photos have been shared on the internet without consent.
Facebook is asking users to send their sexy snaps in, to test a new anti-revenge porn technology. The technology uses image recognition to identify revenge porn and automatically delete it. But employees will first view the unedited images (stock image)
The government agency then works with websites and search engines to have them removed.
A recent survey by the commission showed one in five Australian women aged 18 to 45 suffered image-based abuse.
Facebook and its Messenger app accounting for 53 per cent of revenge porn, followed by Snapchat at 11 per cent then Instagram at four percent.
Research by Melbourne’s Monash University and RMIT University earlier this year found people were falling prey to abusive behaviour on a ‘mass scale’, and that men and women were equally likely to be targeted.