New iPhone app may help find strangers on Facebook

The next time you want any information about a stranger, try the new facial recognition app on your iPhone, which can provide you his or her details by just matching a photograph on Facebook.

Users can take a picture of anyone and run it through the Facezam app which will show them their Facebook profile.

Facezam scans billions of Facebook profile images a second, which it accesses through a database for developers, until it finds a match. It claims to be able to link most photos with a profile on the social network within 10 seconds.

"Facezam could be the end of our anonymous societies," Jack Kenyon, a British entrepreneur and founder of Facezam, was quoted as saying to telegraph.co.uk on Wednesday.

 

"Users will be able to identify anyone within a matter of seconds, which means privacy will no longer exist in public society," Kenyon added.

The app, which will launch on iOS on March 21, has been tested on more than 10,000 images to date with a 70 per cent accuracy.

However, the launch could be delayed by Facebook, which said Facezam violates its privacy policies.

"This activity violates our terms and we're reaching out to the developer to ensure they bring their app into compliance," Facebook was quoted as saying.

Facebook reviews apps that use its data before they go live to check they adhere to its policies. Apps that collect users' data or use automated technology to scan Facebook are forbidden from launching without permission from the social network.

Facezam has not violated Facebook's terms, Kenyon said, while adding that the app could help reduce crime by making everyone identifiable.