REAL LIFE NEWS: REMEMBER, FACEBOOK PICTURES ARE PUBLIC
by Hazed
Criminals: pay attention.
If you use Facebook it’s important to remember that what you post on there is public. What’s more, it will stay there forever (or at least as long as the service is still live).
You must have read the stories about people who post a rude comment about their boss, or who skive off work by pretending to be ill but post a pic of themselves partying hard - and subsequently lose their jobs.
Well, if you’re wanted by the cops, you’ve got another reason to worry about what you post on Facebook, because the NYPD is tracking criminals through photos on social media sites.
Police are searching Facebook and Instagram for photos of their suspects, then running them through a new facial recognition unit to put a name to the face. They can match up criminals’ mug shots with pictures found on social media.
One example of this technology in action can be seen in a recent street robbery. A woman reported that her best friend’s boyfriend had stolen her jewelry. She didn’t know his name, but did know he’d show up in the friend’s Facebook pictures.
So the police were able to find his image on Facebook, then use facial recognition to match it with their database.
In another case, cab drivers in the Bronx were being robbed at gunpoint. All the police had to go on was a rough description of the thief - until during one of the robberies a camera on the dashboard of the car snapped a picture of the perp. The police sent it to the facial recognition unit, and within hours a match popped up.
So if you plan to commit a crime, just make sure your picture isn’t plastered all over Facebook!
