In the name of security, Facebook is asking some users to upload a photo of their face to authenticate their account

Facebook has been asking users for a photo of their face to authenticate their Facebook accounts. [caption id=“attachment_4222459” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A 3D-printed Facebook dislike button is seen in front the Facebook logo. Image: Reuters.[/caption] This latest “verification” technique from Facebook has apparently been doing the rounds since April, if the earliest reports on Reddit are to be believed. Speaking to Wired, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed that this was indeed happening and that this new form of verification was being used to “help us catch suspicious activity at various points of interaction on the site. According to the company, the images are hashed — a digital fingerprint of the image is generated — and it is then deleted from Facebook servers. The process happens automatically and with no human intervention.  

Wired reports that Facebook is unwilling to disclose the mechanism of the verification process as the company is worried about compromising the system. This is the second time that Facebook is asking for a personal photograph from its users. Only recently, Facebook had announced **a plan for fighting the spread of revenge porn** , which involved getting users to upload their nude photos on Messenger so Facebook could hash the images. In that case, as well, Facebook promised that the process was fully automated and that the images would be permanently deleted after they were hashed. While it’s certainly likely that Facebook has implemented these features with the noblest of intentions, there is that one matter about trusting Facebook with that data. And another thing, why hasn’t Facebook informed users that such an authentication system was being implemented in the first place.