Opt-out for pictures taken in public
TagMeNot is a pre-emptive, anticipatory, vendor independent, and free opt-out technology for pictures taken in public places
The TagMeNot is a QR-Code that links to the site TagmeNot.info, where your will of not being tagged and recognized is clearly stated and could not be ignored
Uses
- Stick a TagmeNot out of your house and make Google Street View and MS Streetside know you are opting-out
- Avoid tagging and face recognition from social networks (as Facebook): wear a TagMeNot to state clearly you dont' allow tagging
- Avoid personal pictorial information online: display a TagMeNot to state that any picture of you has to be blurred prior to publishing
I want to enhance my online privacy
Are you concerned with the use of automatic face recognition in pictures repositories as Google images, Flickr, or in social networks as Facebook?
Are you worried about the use of "tagging" in social networks, and you don't want your name or personal data to be associated to pictures of you?
Would you prefer that pictures of your house do not appear in Google Streetview or Bing Maps Streetside in full detail?
Then you don't want that pictures of you, your face, your car, your house or some of your belongings that can be linked to your identity to be put on the web.
Wearing or displaying the TagMeNot means:
- "I don't want that picture with my face or house or car plate on the web without my consent",
- "Please blur or delete personal information in photos before publication"
- "I don't want face recognition to be applied on me".
Anyone who takes a picture of you, your house, or any of your belongings where the TagMeNot is readable must know that publishing the unmodified picture is against your will.
The Tagmenot means you are asking to cancel personal details and blur faces.
The tag is free and its design is released with a Creative Commons license (CC-BY) license, so you can use it as you like. Download the tag and print your own t-shirts, badges, buttons or have it stitched wherever you want. You can even sell them. For your convenience you can find some tagged buttons, stickers and t-shirts in the Zazzle stores.
Please beware of situations where wearing the TagMeNot can be used against its indended use, for instance to pick from the crowd those people who don't want to be photographed.
I am planning a privacy aware public event
You are organizing public event, as a conference.
Some of your guests may be concerned about pictures taken at the conference being displayed on the web and possibly tagged with their names..
You can ask participants at registration if they want this tag to be printed on their badges, so their desire of keeping a more tight privacy profile will be clearly stated.
TagMeNot is an opt-out technology that can be useful in situations where it's not so clear if people want to be photographed or not, and if their pictures will go online: conferences, public events, cars in the traffic, buildings in the street, and so on.
I have been directed here by some picture I took
You took a picture of someone wearing the TagMeNot or of some object (car, house) displaying the TagMeNot. You have been directed to this site by the QR code.
The person wearing the tag, or the owner of the object where the tag is displayed is stating he/she doesn't want that picture to be made public as long as any private data (face, personal details, identity cues, plate number, location, building details) is disclosed.
That person is asking you to refrain from publishing the picture or making it available on the web unless all details are erased, blurred or pixelated.
So please first blur the face, the plate numbers, and any other detail that can make that person or object recognizable. Thank you for doing so!
It is OK to publish a picture of a person or object that displays the TagMeNot as long as personal information and details that can lead to identification (names, faces, plate numbers) are blurred.
I own/publish massive amounts of pictures
Your name is Google, Facebook, Flickr.
You own a large repository of pictures or run some service based on it. Could be face recognition.
Pictures may include people and personal details about them. You are worried about the growing privacy concerns over your service and the outcome of possible lawsuits. You'll do anything reasonable to lower this threat and support privacy enhancing techniques that don't disrupt your service.
Then you should run an automated search of the qr-code associated with the TagMeNot on your pictures database, and refrain to disclose data wherever the tag is readable.
Adopting universal, explicit, proactive, anticipative and anonymous opt-out measures that complement privacy regulation will help you prevent privacy issues.
This approach could help to make your privacy policies closer to a form of privacy by design, without compromising functionality.
Moreover, you can turn a threat into an opportunity: implementing automatic qr-code scanning in your image-base can open huge business occasions for you and offer a business-enabling platform for your customers.
Let me know if you already run such scans or plan to do so in the future: your name will be listed here.