Poll: Over 90% Facebook users hate photos posted without permission

More than nine out of 10 Facebook users are not amused when their photos are posted on the social networking giant without their approval, a computer security firm said.

 

Sophos said its informal survey of 842 Facebook users showed 91 percent believe their permission should be sought before their photos or videos are posted.

 

"Facebook users overwhelmingly agree that it's rude to post photos or videos of them without asking permission first. Some even think it should be illegal," it said.

 

Of the 842 respondents, 83 percent of users "think it's just common courtesy to ask permission before posting a photo or video of someone else."

 

Another 8 percent "felt it should be illegal not to have received approval," it added.

 

Only seven percent did not think one's permission should be sought in posting a photo or video online, while two percent said "I don't know."

 

Sophos also said some respondents believed Facebook's existing tagging controls allowed one to remove a picture they do not want published online.

 

"Unfortunately, that's not correct," it said.

 

It said that while Facebook revamped its privacy settings last August and introduced an option to review photos and posts that you have been tagged in before they appear on your own profile page it has not enabled this option by default.

 

Besides, it said rejecting a photo tagged in your name from appearing on your profile page does not stop your Facebook friend from uploading and publishing it in the first place.

 

"It merely blocks it from appearing on *your* profile. It will still be visible elsewhere on the site," it said.

 

The best one can do for now is keep requesting that one's Facebook friends untag one from unflattering photographs or photos one would rather keep private.

 

"The situation is arguably more complicated if you're not even a member of Facebook. You can still be tagged in a Facebook photo, and your tagger can include your email address - meaning you are informed that you have been tagged and invited to visit a link to view the photo, but you won't be able to do anything else without signing up for the site," it said.

 

Sophos said Facebook fosters a "publish first, apologize later" culture, rather than something which over 90 percent of the site's users would seemingly prefer. — RSJ, GMA News