This comes under the heading of “things I never worried about before, but now…?”
My question is whether a digital full face photo filed under my name is some type of security risk. I recently got new glasses from EyeBuyDirect. One single focus (distance) pair and one pair with bifocals. The bifocal lenses are wrong, and it’s obvious when comparing them to the single focus pair (which work perfectly).
EBD is requiring a full-face photo of me wearing the glasses for “analysis” or they won’t replace the wrongly focused lenses. I’m wondering how risky it is to have such a photo mated to my name in a unsecured database? Few corporations are competent enough to institute real security measures with digital data, so this information will be hacked someday. Not a question of “if”, just “when”.
I’m not sure if it’s something worth worrying about, of if it matters at all. What mischief can be done with a detailed picture of someone’s face associated with their name and address?
I don’t know the answer to your question, but technically, they should only need to see the area across your eyes, not your lower face. So maybe you could wear a covid hospital mask. They need to verify where the bifocals line up, I guess.
Would your full face be in the DMVs database already?
Do you have pictures on social media(Facebook and stuff)?
My dental surgeon has many pictures of me in their system. Should I worry they get hacked?
You wear your face out in public everyday, I presume.
Excellent idea! I’m still unsure of the risk, but that solves the problem. Thanks!
I guess it is, but I was hoping they had better digital security.
Me too! I’m never sure what information about me can be a risk later, so I probably worry too much. Got caught up in a major cluster several years ago where all my info was hacked from a database, and I’m more careful now.
I understand the concern, but if someone wanted names and associated faces, they can get more than they’d know what to do with from facebook.
The only real reason I could see being more concerned in this situation is that the picture is going to have more of an ID appearance to it. That is, I might be able to find a picture of you on facebook and zoom in on your face and use that in an attempt to access something that requires a picture ID (ie new financial account), but it’s not going to look correct. A picture that you take with the specific intention of saying ‘this is what my face looks like’ will look much more like an ID picture.
Having said that, if you’re worried, wear a medical mask which should obscure most of your face. You could even go so far as to use a photo editing tool to scrawl something like “NON OFFICIAL” or “FOR EYEBUYDIRECT USE ONLY” or anything else that would make another business (and/or their bots) reject the picture and request a new one.
But, yeah, your face is already out there. The DMV, your Sam’s Club card, gym ID etc. One of the credit card terminals at my store even has the option of using it’s camera to take a picture as the person signs specifically to be used as ammo against a chargeback. I know I’ve seen an option in my security cameras to tie them to certain brands of POS systems to accomplish the same thing. I’ve never tried it, but they also have facial recognition built in to them as well.
I think, in this case, you have some amount of security through obscurity. If someone wants names and faces, they’re probably not going to check an eyeglasses website.* Plus, in a perfect world, the website you need to upload the pictures to will verify whatever they need to verify and then delete the picture since there’s not likely a reason to keep them.
*On the other hand, as I’m typing this, if I wanted names and faces, an eyeglasses website does seem like just the type of place that would have that AND not be more likely to not have them well secured like a financial institute (hopefully) would.
If you ever step outside of your house, anyone at all can take your picture. If you’re going to be worried about anything, worry about anything that lets anyone with your picture get anything by virtue of having your picture.
But all those photos of you on security cameras aren’t attached to your name.
Fwiw, my Facebook profile photo isn’t a photo of me, and I’ve attempted to avoid being tagged in photos on Facebook, especially ones that are available to “everyone”.
That being said, i doubt my paranoia will do me any good.