페이스북, 얼굴인식 기술 회사 Face.com 인수

페이스북이 이스라엘의 얼굴인식 기술회사인 Face.com을 거의 6,000만 달러 가격에 인수했다고 하네요. Face.com은 2007년에 이스라엘에서 시작한 회사로, 모바일 및 데스크탑 제품들에서 얼굴을 인식하기 위해 사용자들의 사진을 스캔 하는 기술을 제공 하고 있습니다. 

앞으로 무서운 일이 생길지도 모르겠네요. 길가다 마음에 들거나 반대로 미운 사람의 사진을 찍어서 올리면 얼굴을 인식하고 누군지 찾아낼 수 있게 되어 나쁜 쪽으로 악용할 수도 있겠네요. 

그리고 페이스북이 전세계인들의 얼굴을 식별하는 DB를 차곡차곡 모우게 될 지도 모르겠네요. 이런 개인 정보를 서드파티 기업에 제공하게 된다면 파급 효과는 상당히 클 것 같네요.

Facebook Acquires Facial Recognition Technology Company Face.com For Nearly $60 Million

Updated 1:37 PST with price

 
After rumors of a deal have swirled for weeks, Facebook has officially acquired facial recognition technology company Face.com.

It’s a complete acquisition, which means both talent and technology will now become Facebook’s in the deal. Though the exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, other outlets have reported the price in the neighborhood of $100 million. However, I’m hearing from two sources familiar with the terms of the deal that Face.com actually sold for a significantly lower amount, approximately $55 to $60 million in cash and stock (though it is unclear if this price is with or without an earnout included).

Neither Facebook nor Face.com would comment on the terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the coming weeks.

Founded in 2007, the Israel-based start-up offers both desktop and mobile products which scan a user’s photos to identify faces, essentially making tagging photos with people’s names much simpler. And Facebook has no dearth of photos to scan — at last count, users on average upload approximately 300 million new photos to Facebook’s site every day.

Currently, Facebook’s tagging suggestion feature does not work for mobile devices as well as it does on desktops, so it’s possible that Face.com could make it faster for mobile users to tag from their mobile uploads with less friction. And that timing makes sense, considering that Facebook just recently launched Camera, a standalone photo app that makes it even easier for users to snap and upload photos to Facebook without going through the cumbersome — and, frankly, rather clunky and slow — iOS and Android applications.

It’s unclear whether Face.com will shutter its site — which has a public API — immediately, though in its acquisition blog post, CEO Gil Hirsch says his company will continue to support third-party developers who use the Face.com API.

“People who use Facebook enjoy sharing photos and memories with their friends,” a Facebook spokesperson told AllThingsD in a statement. “Face.com’s technology has helped to provide the best photo experience. This transaction simply brings a world-class team and a long-time technology vendor in house.”

Shares of Facebook were trading up 6.5 percent on the news Monday afternoon.