METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ALLOWING USERS TO CONTROL USE AND/OR SHARING OF IMAGES AND/OR BIOMETRIC DATA

Methods and apparatus for allowing an individual to preserve his/her privacy and control the use of the individual's images and/or personal information by other, without disclosing the identity of the individual to others, are described. In various embodiments the individual seeking privacy provides his/her identifying information, images, and sharing preferences indicating desired level of privacy to a control device which is then stored in a customer record. The control device can be queried to determine if an image or other information corresponds to a user who has restricted use of his/her image or other information in a public manner. Upon receiving a query the control device determines using the stored customer record whether an individual has authorized use of his or her image. Based upon the determination a response is sent to the querying device indicating whether the use of the image and/or individual's information is authorized.