Facebook is at the centre of another privacy row after bringing in facial recognition technology to automatically identify users in pictures.
The world's leading social network has begun rolling out new technology that automatically identifies and 'tags' people in photos uploaded to the website.
The feature has been expanded from a limited test run in the U.S. to be widened across all of the States and 'most countries', Facebook said on its official blog yesterday - and, by default, it's turned on.
Tag your friends: Facebook's new facial recognition technology has raised the hackles of privacy campaigners
Facebook's 'Tag Suggestions' feature is designed to speed up the process of labeling friends in photos posted on Facebook.
If a friend 'tags' you in one photo, the technology will automatically scan your face and then try and find matches among all their pictures.
It will then suggest that they 'tag' these photos of you as well.
The sudden implementation of the feature, without warning, has sparked concerns among privacy campaigners.
Daniel Hamilton, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: 'Facebook users will rightly be alarmed to hear that their private information will be used in this way. This is yet another nail in the coffin for online privacy.
'Websites like Facebook owe it to their users to respect their privacy, not to scan their photo albums with facial recognition software.'
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