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Facebook’s recently unveiled new feature, which enables its mobile app to listen in on your surroundings through the microphone of your phone, has hit a snag with users not welcoming the idea.
Seeing it as an invasion of privacy, close to two-thirds of the targeted goal of 750,000 users signed a petition to kill off the feature.
In response to the increasing voice of dissent, Facebook clarified in a statement that the feature is opt-in and the microphone will only be activated when users update their statuses.
According to the statement, Facebook maintained that it is not interested in listening in on users’ private conversations and clarified how it work.
“…if you choose to turn the feature on, when you write a status update, the app converts any sound into an audio fingerprint on your phone. This fingerprint is sent to our servers to try and match it against our database of audio and TV fingerprints. By design, we do not store fingerprints from your device for any amount of time. And in any event, the fingerprints can’t be reversed into the original audio because they don’t contain enough information.”
What is your take on this issue?
Check out the video below showcasing the new feature:
[via Business Insider, images via Facebook]
Facebook’s recently unveiled new feature, which enables its mobile app to listen in on your surroundings through the microphone of your phone, has hit a snag with users not welcoming the idea.
Seeing it as an invasion of privacy, close to two-thirds of the targeted goal of 750,000 users signed a petition to kill off the feature.
In response to the increasing voice of dissent, Facebook clarified in a statement that the feature is opt-in and the microphone will only be activated when users update their statuses.
According to the statement, Facebook maintained that it is not interested in listening in on users’ private conversations and clarified how it work.
“…if you choose to turn the feature on, when you write a status update, the app converts any sound into an audio fingerprint on your phone. This fingerprint is sent to our servers to try and match it against our database of audio and TV fingerprints. By design, we do not store fingerprints from your device for any amount of time. And in any event, the fingerprints can’t be reversed into the original audio because they don’t contain enough information.”
What is your take on this issue?
Check out the video below showcasing the new feature:
[via Business Insider, images via Facebook]