Tag, You're It and Internet Privacy

What a few little words can do. According to an article in the Harvard Law Review, when facial recognition software and image "tags" (the words used to describe the contents of a photo) meet the Internet, the growing possibility is that people will be losing their privacy.

The article has some interesting examples: Republican Bob Corker who had to face a bit of a scandal when a picture of his daughter kissing another girl showed up on someone's Facebook account, or television local news anchor Catherine Bosley lost her job after a picture surfaced of her taking part in a wet-t-shirt contest (in the presence of her husband and with some considerable psychology pressure after facing several life-threatening illnesses). But what happens when people can search the web to snoop on their friends, relatives, colleagues, and neighbors? Search for someone's name stuck to a picture and see what comes up.

Now expand the concept a bit. Millions of people keep blogs. What if they're adding subject tags to the blogs? What does that say about how they associate information? What will people - or employers or rivals or anyone else with an agenda - think about them and how will they react? What might you learn about someone, or what might someone learn about you, given the combinations of tags that are now associated with your name? The more you are on the Web in any way, shape, or form, the greater a chance you have of losing your privacy.