Facebook is now trying to prevent people from using your profile picture

TommyCarey Level X³

July 2, 2017, 2:00 pm

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Facebook is now trying to prevent people from using your profile picture

When you make your account on Facebook you never think that someone will take your pictures and make an account for themselves to use however they wish. Well, people actually do this and it's a horrible thing to do because it potentially harms peoples identity online because anyone can post what they want, and if your images ar attached to it, people will think it's actually you.

Well Facebook is fighting this and making it almost impossible for people to take your images and use them as their own. Facebook launched a new feature, in India, that give people more control over who they allow to use their images. Facebook has said that they plan to open the feature up to the world, but not just yet. They want to basically beta test the system in India and see how it works, what bugs show up, and if it's able to be broken easily. Like most large corporations, a new feature won't be launched to the masses because it could fail on a massive scale. They would rather have a target group and see how it works. Now there are a lot of people in India, so it's not just a small beta test they're doing lol

Aarati Soman, a Facebook product manager, said that not everyone feels safe adding a profile picture because they're worried someone will use it in a negative way. A profile picture is one of the easiest ways to differentiate who your friend "Sam Smith" is out of the sea of other people with the same name, and now they might be more willing to add their own pictures

So if you live in India, and only India, you will notice an option to add the "profile picture guard" which prevents anyone from downloading and using your image in a negative way. Now this is still in beta, but Facebook doesn't usually test something like this unless they plan on rolling it out later. The guard also blocks people from screenshotting your profile picture and then cutting it out in MS paint or Photoshop. The blocker will show a blue border around your profile image when it's activated. It will sort of be like the security system signs people up up in their lawns to deter theives

Facebook is also working on something that allows people to add some sort of design feature to their images so that they're less likely to be downloaded and used. Soman said that this feature alone reduced the download of profile images by 75% which is pretty amazing

Facebook partnered with Jessica Singh, a graphic designer, who designed some basic Indian designs to be used on the images if someone wanted to. I'm not sure how many options there are for these designs and if you can add it to any image you want, but this is a pretty awesome idea

In Conclusion:
Setting up this feature is pretty simple and could have a powerful affect. You won't have to worry about scammers using your pictures to entice others to pay them for something. Facebook will make it more difficult for scammers to get money by using images hosted on their servers. My only concern is that facebook could start turning into MySpace and have a bunch of glitter all over users images making them look extremely tacky lmao But only time will tell when it comes to what is going to happen with this feature only available in India currently

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Thanks!

Razzy

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galegatling

Very informative Raz as always! It's about time I guess since Facebook is full of posers and scammers who try to use your picture and photos. But I think there is still a long way to. Anyone can click any picture and save it, for like any time. No hassle :/

7 years ago

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MendasDigital

Anyone can click any picture and save it, for like any time. No hassle :/

Some sites make it more difficult than others, but yes, if you can see it, you can get it, and measures of deteration always come at a cost of user convenience.

7 years ago

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Corzhens

You are right that it is still a long way to go before Facebook can employ something that will prevent other people from using your profile picture. Right now it is as easy as clicking the picture and having it copied to your computer. You can then edit the picture and make it appear that it is a different one from the original. But maybe Facebook will be using a sort of watermark that someday will be a safeguard for the originality of the images that are posted in Facebook.

6 years ago

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kaka135

Hope the testing will go well smoothly and Facebook team is going to release this new features to all users very soon. It's really horrible that some people might want to steal others' identity or profile pictures to do something that might not even benefit them. Thank you for sharing this news!

7 years ago

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Okav1ator

This is an awesome feature that Facebook is adding. Thanks for informing the community Raz! I'll definitely be looking forward to this feature being adding to the mobile app in the North American region.

7 years ago

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MendasDigital

Profile picture guard will help keep your current photo more secure on Facebook in 3 ways. Other people can't download or share your profile picture on Facebook. Only you and your Facebook friends can tag your profile picture. The shield signals that other people should respect your profile picture.

-REF: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/06/giving-people-more-control-over-their-facebook-profile-picture/

So basically it does nothing, but hopefully people will see the symbol and honor your wishes. Kind of like sending a no tracking request when web browsing.

Also, add a design to your profile picture to discourage copying.

-REF: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/06/giving-people-more-control-over-their-facebook-profile-picture/

This sounds more useful than the Profile Picture Guard feature. Watermarks have been around for a long time. They are tried and true. Adding a feature to Facebook that allows you to watermark images would make the process easier for people. Not everyone has photo processing tools, and many people upload pictures directly from their phones.

7 years ago

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Meg24

This is very interesting, I know there are a lot of problems with this. A friend of mine recently had several of her pictures used on another profile and someone claimed them as their own. Simply reporting the person did nothing, the profile was still there and running. It's certainly a privacy problem that needs to be fixed.

7 years ago

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peachpurple

That is a good news to us. At least Facebook is upgrading their functions and trying to protect users profile picture from being misused and hacked. A good move that I am very pleased to hear. Thanks for the update

7 years ago

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Tronia

Thanks for the up to date and latest information. I had no idea that they are trying this out in India.

Why India though? It seems a bit random unless they have some major designers or shareowners there?

It does seem like an awesome addition though. There are so many people that download other people's Facebook pictures as their own. It is not only sad it can also be dangerous. Therefore, I am all for such functions that offer that extra bit of safeness and security.

Hopefully, it works out and is soon implemented worldwide.

7 years ago

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Fuzyon

If they can manage to block screenshots as well then it's a really good feature which will make fake profiles appear so much less. That being said, there are still a couple of kinks that need to be worked out. For example, your profile picture also appears on Google, so what are they going to do if you could simply download it from there?

7 years ago

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Corzhens

This is good news for Facebook users. Once in a while, I see a post in Facebook regarding posers of their person. A fake account is created using their photo for the profile picture. With that safeguard of Facebook in verifying the profile picture of accounts then I guess the posers will have a difficult time in doing their gimmick. Truly technology continues with its advancement that sometimes I ask what is next.

7 years ago

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galegatling

This will still take longer time though. Since it's very hard to implement. Facebook have to team up with all the browser's devs about the compatibility and all other stuff so prevent getting your pictures, and also to Microsoft. You can always take a screenshot. :/

7 years ago

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Neiltarquin

I would agree to that proposal. The use of Facebook is becoming unlikely as to what it was originally planned. Some even uses Facebook to promote pornography. Attracting people with tittilating pictures. We all know that even kids has access to Facebook so this site should clean up their act. Atleast give back something to people who is Loyal to their site.

7 years ago

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JackDan

Honestly, i don't think that it's a beneficial update about protecting your profile picture on Facebook. I know a nowadays lot of people are making fake accounts by using other Facebook users photos and last time reported that there are over 400 million fake accounts on Facebook. It's not a useful update because people know how to use the screenshot from their phones, that means you can't protect your picture which is lock by Facebook.

7 years ago

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RedVelvetJuliet

Very true. Unless Facebook can figure out a way to block scammers from taking pictures on any device, I'm afraid it's useless. I will give them credit, however, for making sure to prevent people from taking screenshots in the first place. Not every company would think of this. That is a big security risk. Now, I think the idea was made in good faith. I don't want to be too judgmental. If you're a public figure or seller, you don't want someone posting as you. The designs made by the woman sound cool. Hopefully, they are actually pretty designs. It makes sense that Facebook is tiptoeing around this issue carefully because they won't want to offend its consumers. Hopefully, this beta test goes well.

7 years ago

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joegirl

Innovative idea! Religious accounts seem to be the most hit. I follow a number of religious individuals on Facebook. Each time I make a comment on status on their page, I get a friend request from an account with the profile picture of this individual asking for donation to an organisation or orphanage somewhere in Africa, Hopefully, this new tool introduced will help curb this growing scam.

7 years ago

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rosethornes

This is true and did happen to me also. They use the image of religious individual to ask donations but its actually a scam. You really can't tell who's real unless you do the research.

7 years ago

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clara1993

I stopped uploading my pictures on Facebook when I saw someone opened an similar account than mine and trying to make friend with my friends, and then later I posted on my wall that someone else was trying to to be me and warned all my friends just in case they ask them money or do something fishy, since then I understood that putting my pictures on social media was dangerous, I thank God cause he didn't do something bad well not that I know so far but it's good that these sites start some safety measures like this one may be one day me and people who feel like that we'll restart to share our good memories on social media without fearing that a stranger might steal them.

7 years ago

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cinnamonsugar

Great initiative. However, I don't think it's foolproof-- I can think of a few ways to circumvent the profile photo guard. For example, what is stopping me from using my camera to take a photo of my computer screen? Doubt Facebook's interface can do anything if someone wants to do that. Also, how about downloading a cache copy of the website instead?

7 years ago

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bomb2060

Well this is a step in the right direction. But i suggest they should do more research on it. Because yesterday, my account was temporarily locked. Why? Because am using my girlfriend's photo instead! I wasn't using it to solicit for anything anywhere. When i logged in yesterday, i was asked for my photo instead. I took a photo and facebook claimed that they are loooking into it and they will get right back.
I have been waiting for them to respond until now, i dont have access to my facebook account. This is inconveniencing. Because i need my account for business. And if myself or my girlfriend would like to use my photo or her photo on the profile, it should be none of their business. I should be able to use it. Provided i have consent from her / the owner.
Facebook is slowly forgetting that we are the community, we are the 2billion people that makes them money. All changes should be participatory. The community should be engaged in making such radical changes.

7 years ago

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DenisP

I'm fascinated with how exactly this system works. I'm not a programmer by any means, so I find it hard to comprehend how they would prevent screenshotting as that is a feature which takes an image of everything on your monitor. Really interesting stuff, I would not have expected that it is even possible to do that. All in all I'm happy that they've come up with it, as not only is it detrimental to scammers but it also reduces the amount of catfishing on social media. Before I add anyone that I don't know in real life, I always do a reverse image search on their profile image to make sure that they aren't using an image from the Internet.

Then again, with this system implemented that's going to be difficult to do as well.

7 years ago

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simplymh

Hopefully this beta will work out and be worldwide. I do not think anyone has stolen my picture, but I sure would not want anyone to make a fake account and pose as myself. I have seen it happen with people I know though, and it is horrible.

7 years ago

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iamawriter

So far so good. I have never seen anyone robbing my images nor my profile and call it their own. Anyway there can always be a time that this could happen. Kudos to FaceBook and hope they will come up with something concrete so that others could also emulate and we have a clean and safe place.

7 years ago

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cmoneyspinner

LOL. Fortunately I don't have the kind of face that others want to say belongs to them. But my kids and grand-kids do. So I'm really glad steps are being taken to stop other people from “jacking” your face. I hate creepy people who want to use your face as a mask.

7 years ago

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rosethornes

This is good news that Facebook can protect our photos and hopefully it can be worldwide and not only in India. There is already a lot of scammer out there who grab your photo, make new account, pretend to be you and ask money to your friends.

7 years ago

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Pixie06

That's a very good initiative. I am glad that no one has stolen my Facebook pictures or data so far. However when it comes to the internet we can never be safe. That's the reason why I have not included much pictures on Facebook and have provided very little information about myself. I hope that this feature is soon available worldwide.

7 years ago

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augusta

It was really appalling to see scammers and fraudster using innocent people images for their fraudulent act.It a good thing bin the right direction.This will give people the courage to continuing uploading pictures to their profile and account.I think they should be a way of blocking spam messages on facebook to reduce spam messages

7 years ago

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Barida

I think if this is really implemented, then I will be one of the happiest people on Facebook. It is not right to see others using user's profile picture for one thing or the other and that is what I really don't like.

7 years ago

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SEOClerks

Facebook is now trying to prevent people from using your profile picture

Facebook is now trying to prevent people from using your profile picture

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