In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Facebook’s facial recognition flap, dig up some new research on Internet privacy, and ponder the way in which technology and political sex scandals go hand in hand.

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Most Internet Users Afraid Privacy Won’t Exist in 2020

According to new info from Microsoft’s “Internet Explorer 9: Future of the Web” study, loss of Internet privacy is a chief concern for thousands of Internet users across Europe. In the study, which polled over 10,000 Internet users from 12 European countries, 45% of respondents indicated that loss of online privacy by 2020 was a top concern, with 60% “worrying that companies will track and save their every online move.” The study also touched on the importance of online reputation management with 24% of respondents indicating that they “believe that people’s online personas could even become more important than their real-life identities.”

Privacy Groups Urge Investigation into Facebook Facial Recognition

Several privacy groups are calling on the FTC to launch an investigation into Facebook following the company’s rollout of its new facial recognition feature. According to the Washington Post, EPIC’s Marc Rotenberg said that the feature violates consumer protection laws, and that “even though users can opt out of the service, Facebook subscribers weren’t notified of the risks associated with the service” when they were opted in by default. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) also took exception with Facebook, though less with the feature itself and more with how Facebook rolled it out. In a statement, Rep. Markey said Facebook should ask for permission rather than assume it.

The Real Problem with Facebook Facial Recognition is Tagging

In an excellent article for PCWorld, Dan Tynan discusses the furor over Facebook’s facial recognition feature and why facial recognition isn’t the issue with which everyone should be concerned. Tynan says that the real issue with Facebook photos is tagging, namely that there’s no way to stop other people from tagging you in photos. This can be problematic, particularly if someone posts a lewd photo and tags you, and you don’t react in time to untag yourself. Quoting Tynan, “Allowing other people to tag you at will can be problematic in all kinds of ways. Want to opt out of allowing friends to tag you? Tough. Facebook doesn’t give you that option. All you can do is control who sees the things you’re tagged in (friends, friends of friends, etc) or remove the tags one by one.”

If you’ve been tagged over and over, it could take hours or even days to untag all of the photos, and there’s no way to stop new photos from being tagged of you in the future. Even more concerning, you don’t even have to be a user of Facebook to be tagged in a photo on the site. If you’re not a Facebook user and you’re tagged in a damaging photo, you have almost no recourse to correct the issue. That’s a privacy issue, and one that is more pressing than facial recognition.

New York Times: Technology and the Political Sex Scandal

In response to Rep. Anthony Weiner’s lewd photo scandal, the New York Times put out an interesting feature on the way technology and political sex scandals have been historically interconnected. In the article, Kate Zernike writes that, “the Internet, with its promise of simultaneous intimacy and distance, offers a new way to flout moral strictures” and that, while politicians are smart enough to avoid public lapses of judgment, they think that “sending raunchy pictures online at midnight seems somehow different.” It’s an interesting piece and one that highlights the need for proactive online reputation management for politicians.

Global Internet Traffic Expected to Quadruple by 2015

It looks like this Internet thing is here to stay. According to data provided to Mashable.com by Cisco, ”global Internet traffic is expected to quadruple between 2010 and 2015.” The research predicts that by 2015, 3 billion people will be using the Internet, or approximately 40% of the world’s population. The increase in Internet use will be tied to wider expansion of Internet technology including a huge push in mobile Internet use.