Facebook Obtains Patent To Track Users’ TV Habits With Microphones And Cameras

In recent years, Facebook has landed in hot water for a variety of data and privacy missteps, from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to the revelation last week that 267 million users had their phone numbers exposed online. In every one of these scandals, the common thread is that Facebook knows far too much about us — and will stop at nothing to learn even more. That’s why it wasn’t surprising when it was revealed earlier this week that Facebook has secured a patent to track what users watch on TV, in some cases using a device’s microphone, camera or GPS.

The patent describes how Facebook could capture data through “acoustical fingerprinting,” capturing audio through a Facebook app when it’s running on a user’s device. It could also analyze images from an incoming video stream, and even use the camera in a user’s device to try to figure out what they’re watching. The company could then correlate all of this info with the rest of a user’s data, giving it a complete picture of what that person was interested in.

It isn’t clear if Facebook is already practicing this or if it ever will, but it’s disturbing that the social media giant was this interested in the first place. Even after the many times Facebook has gotten in trouble for snooping on users, it still can’t help itself.




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