Could also be used to strengthen connections, suggest friends and events

Camera 'fingerprint' could be used to find fake and multiple accounts

Facebook has technology capable of recognising its users’ faces in photos.

Now a patent suggests the social network could identify people’s cameras, to work out which device was used to take a picture.

Facebook says the technology could be used to suggest new friends and events, but also to identify fake accounts, for example.

The patent, filed by the Californian company in January, suggests it could identify a camera based on physical characteristics, including lens scratches, to create a camera ‘fingerprint’.

A patent filed by Facebook suggests the social network could identify people’s cameras (illustrated in a picture from the patent) using scratches and features on the lens, to work out which device was used to take a picture

It could then use that fingerprint to identify any picture taken by that camera and therefore a user that owns it.

Combined with other pieces of information such as location data and facial recognition, which is used in the US but not in Europe, it could recognise photos taken by a user if they are uploaded to someone else’s account.

The patent says: ‘A camera signature comprises features extracted from images that characterize the camera used for capturing the image, for example, faulty pixel positions in the camera and metadata available in files storing the images.

The technology could identify any picture taken by that camera (stock image) and therefore a user that owns it. It could be used to track down multiple accounts owned by a single user, or fake accounts, the patent hints

‘Associations between users and cameras are inferred based on actions relating users with the cameras, for example, users uploading images, users being tagged in images captured with a camera, and the like.'

Facebook hints the system could be used to track down multiple accounts owned by a single user, or fake accounts.

It could potentially stop people hiding behind false identities and ‘catfishing’ other users, for example and settle copyright disputes.

But it may also be used to boost connections between users by suggesting potential friends and interesting events, for example.

While the system could prove useful, it could also potentially be creepy and allow Facebook (stock image) to make extra connections not shared by users, by spotting they are associated with certain images

The patent reads: ‘Associations between users of the social networking system related via cameras are inferred.

‘These associations are used beneficially for the social networking system, for example, for recommending potential connections to a user, recommending events and groups to users, identifying multiple user accounts created by the same user, detecting fraudulent accounts, and determining affinity between users.’

While the system could prove useful, it could also potentially be creepy and allow Facebook to make extra connections not shared by users, by spotting they are associated with certain images, Geek.com reported.

There are even concerns Facebook may one day be able to spot photos taken by its users shared elsewhere online.