PimEyes is the website that many fear, best known for being named in an article in the NY Times. This is a web page that can be traced back to any person thanks to facial recognition and this, according to many, could be a real problem. How many times, wandering on social media, have you read strange conversations between a person who has found himself contacted by a complete stranger? Well, very often the user in question is contacted after making several inquiries for trace the name, surname and address. With PimEyes just take a picture to him or her at the center of our attention e use facial recognition.
That same photo will be directly uploaded to the website in question and that’s it; that same face will be searched all over the internet, scanning every single social network in circulation. Once found, the information will also be deliberately taken and sent to the applicant. Usable by everyone for a limited period of time, ie for a limited number of searches; after that, the site becomes fully paid: € 35.99 per month to have access to 25 searches per day. If you think it is an exaggerated price, unfortunately you are wrong as not even such a high monthly cost can dissuade any malicious people.
PimEyes in the sights of the German authorities
For this an investigation was launched by the German authorities in 2021, as it is considered a highly risky site. Unfortunately, however, not everything always ends up for the best. The site in question was created by two students, only to be sold to third parties at a later time. To escape the competent authorities in Europe, the Georgian entrepreneur moved the PimEyes headquarters directly to Dubai. In this way he will not be able to receive further accusations from the German authorities, nor from others on European soil.
Despite this, the same buyer wanted to specify that the photos found on the net are not saved by the company itself and that they will be careful to maintain some privacy. What the site can find is all public and, therefore, the membership does not violate any type of personal information; it is up to the user to decide how to use the available service, whether in a malicious or positive way for any kind of research. PimEyes is not only used by searchers, but even by those who want to remove all their traces on the web. The additional service is called PROtectmade up of a team of experts in the field able to remove any photo of the user present on the internet.
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