Facedeals Facebook Program Can Get You Good Deals, But at a Steep Price

Remember that time when you walked into a bar, and a camera there recognized you  and sent you a text, because, yes, your phone number is no longer something private, with a deal for a free drink. Oh, you don't? Yeah, me neither, but apparently this is the highlight of the newly developed app, Facedeals. Check out this not-so awesome infomercial here.

With Facedeals, a camera is equipped with facial recognition software that is supposed to -- using the same type of software that Facebook uses to help you tag your pictures-- provide you with the best ”deals” available. Apparently, the new app will also go through your history of likes just to be sure that their deals are perfect for you. To clarify though, the Facedeals apparatus has no actual ties to Facebook, meaning it has not been developed with Facebook. Apparently, the people at Facebook don't like that its graphic profile looks to much like Facebook's. It does, however, use the social media giants vast gallery of photos (as long as you verify it of course) to first identify and then learn to recognize you to be able to systematically be able to capture you sneaking into bars, doing some grocery shopping or who knows... getting that awkward rash checked out at your local STD clinic.

In this time of sharing, and over-sharing, the development according to the advertising agency Redpepper should be seen as a developed notion of the Facebook check-in. Of course, with the Facedeals you will no longer be able to control where you check in and who you are with, bragging by checking in at the car dealers or some swanky new club surely beats McDonald's or a strip club at 5 a.m. But of course, I'm getting a bit carried away, the idea is simply to recognize where you are to send you coupons via your mobile. Sound great, right? We all love commercials!

So believing that Redpepper is not inherently evil and want to publish your check-ins, or working for the state with the intention of popularizing and commercializing the use of face-recognition cameras to catch all you villains out there. And even though people nowadays tend to like the idea of sharing, there is a difference between negotiating what information is available regarding your whereabouts on a case by case basis and by constantly being recognized and recorded and then "handed" over to a third-party commercial company -- a company that has access to your identity, your friends, your likes, interests and everything else you've ever posted on Facebook.

So, are you willing to give up your privacy for a good discount?