Facebook Submits Patent That Remotely Activates Phone Microphone
Facebook has patented a system that can remotely activate the microphone on your phone or tablet using signals humans cannot hear broadcasted from a television. The patent application describes a system where an audio fingerprint embedded in advertisements or on a television show can trigger the microphone on a phone, tablet, or smart speaker, and record “ambient audio of the content item.”
The patent was first spotted on June 21st, and can be used as a way to determine who is watching television, what they are watching, what advertisements they are watching, and for how long they are watching for. This may be used to provide recommendations on movies and television shows, however can also be used to provide more targeted advertising.
However, privacy experts are concerned about this new patent. Allowing a microphone to be enabled remotely and record background noise will pick up on private conversations, without anyone aware that they are being recorded. “It’s extremely disconcerting for privacy to have an inaudible beacon as it means they want to make it not obvious to the user that the device is listening,” William Budington said, senior technologist at Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Facebook has responded to the criticism of the patent, saying “It is common practice to file patents to prevent aggression from other companies. Because of this, patents tend to focus on future-looking technology that is often speculative in nature and could be commercialised by other companies. The technology in this patent has not been included in any of our products, and never will be.“
This has almost confirmed rumors that Facebook has been listening in on people’s conversations, and uses that information to provide more targeted advertisements. In May 2014, Facebook launched a feature called Identify TV and Music – this feature listened to ambient noise whilst a user was writing a Facebook post, however this required the user’s permission.
