Will You Sign Up For Facedeals?

Facedeals will offer you "specials" by facial recognition

My morning ritual begins with turning on my TV to catch the news.  One story this morning really grabbed my attention in a very disturbing way.  It was about a new technology called “Facedeals”, which could be one of the more frightening apps to come our way.

RedPepper Labs, a development group headquartered in Nashville, TN has just announced its latest entry into the world of digital technology.  They call it Facedeals, and the testing has begun.  As I was listening to this story, I started to be concerned about how this could put everyone’s privacy at risk.  Facedeals will be connected to your Facebook account and will use facial recognition to pinpoint your location whenever you enter your favorite shops and restaurants.

Unlike FourSquare, where you physically have to enter your location, the only action you need to complete with Facedeals is to walk in the door.  As you approach the door, a camera placed outside the shop will scan your face and link it to Facebook’s application program interface (or API) and associate it with your “Likes” so that shop will be able to offer you discounts and other deals accordingly.

Before this app can scan you, you must approve it through your Facebook settings, which at least gives you some control.  If you choose to approve Facedeals, you will be asked to scan one of the newest photos you have of yourself.  After that, each time you enter a business that has a Facedeals camera at the door, that business will know you are there, will know the Facebook “Likes” you have that are relevant to that business, and you will be sent special offers to your cell phone within seconds.

Since installation of these cameras doesn’t require anything more than a wall outlet and WiFi connection, they can be place anywhere.  For now, the test area is limited to Nashville, Tennessee, but RedPepper is hoping to soon expand the area.

It’s too soon to tell how quickly Facedeals will be accepted by the public.  Personally, I can’t imagine that a large amount of people would be willing to be “followed” around like this.  I know that I would feel as if I were being stalked, so I will not be approving this app.  My privacy is too important to me to have strangers know my “Likes” when it comes to everything from fashion sense to favorite meals.

Privacy is such a valuable asset.  Learn how to avoid risk by downloading the free Internet Privacy Guide at the top of the page.  After all, keeping your privacy safe is well worth the few minutes it takes to download the Guide.