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Facebook Wants To Spy On People Using Their Phone's Camera and Analyze Facial Emotions (thesun.co.uk)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Sun: The social network applied for a patent to capture pictures of a user through their smartphone. The creepy designs, which date back to 2015, were discovered by software company CBI Insight, which has been analyzing Mark Zuckerberg's "emotion technology." Patent documents contain illustrations showing a person holding a smartphone with a camera taking a picture from which "emotion characteristics" like smiling or frowning are detected. If the person appears to like what they're seeing, Facebook could place more of the same type of content in front of them. Patents don't always make it through to the end product, so it's not clear whether Facebook will bring out this new feature. Researchers at CBI Insights warned that the plans could put a lot of people off using the service. Facebook appears to have tested out similar technology to work out which emoji to send to people using a selfie.

57 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. This is why... by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is why I always point my phone camera at my junk when reading Facebook.

    I don't want anonymous people on facebook seeing my face.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:This is why... by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      This is why I always point my phone camera at my junk when reading Facebook.

      I don't want anonymous people on facebook seeing my face.

      Facebook tracking algorithm: He's bald and always winking, show him more ads for Rogaine and eye drops!

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:This is why... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      He's bald and always winking, show him more ads for Rogaine and eye drops!

      Meanwhile, more Captain Picard memes in the daily feed.

    3. Re:This is why... by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

      At least you know why everything thinks you are a dick.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:This is why... by modi123 · · Score: 1

      Plot twist - good-guy facebook detects your testicular cancer and notifies you thus saving your balls and your life.

    5. Re:This is why... by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      This is why I have neither Facebook nor a smartphone. I don't want anyone seeing, hearing, reading anything about me, or knowing my geographic location (GPS receiver physically disabled in my non-smartphone, which is off most of the time anyway).

    6. Re:This is why... by yuriklastalov · · Score: 1

      More like cocktail weenie, amirite?

  2. Is that the limitation of this technology? by MiniMike · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would it be able to read hand gestures too? Because I know which one they'll get from my camera...

    1. Re:Is that the limitation of this technology? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Victory?

      Wait, only half way.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. researchers are confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Researchers at CBI Insights warned that the plans could put a lot of people off using the service.

    Bullshit. Facebook is already an unbelievably creepy source of intrusive personal surveillance, and people flock to it by the billions. They meet someone in real life they never told FB about, and suddenly see that person suggested as a FB friend, because FB detected their phones with he FB app installed came into close proximity.

    Most people simply do not care. There is no level of creepiness that could ever put them off. This would be marketed as a good thing, and people would eat it up like they do every other form of spying.

    1. Re:researchers are confused. by DickBreath · · Score: 1

      Point by point.

      It is creepy. You don't have to be paranoid. Think of FB as a creep and stalker that follows you around.

      What you say next is like: If you don't want 1984 Big Brother's telescreens following you around, there ways to be sneaky. Put a hair on top of a book in a drawer so you'll know later if someone has been looking through your things and had moved that book, and now knows you are reading forbidden ideas censored by the ze Trumpenland. Just because you don't like it, comrad, doesn't mean s**t, but it does warrant a visit to the Ministry Of Love for re-education.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    2. Re:researchers are confused. by tsqr · · Score: 1

      Think of FB as a creep and stalker that follows you around.

      Wouldn't it be more appropriate to think of FB as a creep and stalker that you've asked to follow you around? Or are there people who use Facebook but don't know they use it?

      If you don't want Facebook to use your camera you could, you know, turn off Facebook's permission to use your camera. Or if you think that's not enough, you can stick some tape over the selfie lens.

    3. Re:researchers are confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      people typically join facebook to share pictures of thier kids with thier familes or keep in touch with people. The whole following them around thing is not WHY people sign up for facebook. I have never met someone that says "boy I wish there was a company that would watch my every move... I know! I'll join facebook!"

      facebook has been known to default new security settings to the least secure without notice. Its not like everything is straight forward and agreed to.

    4. Re:researchers are confused. by vux984 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Think of FB as a personal assistant that follows you around.

      A personal assistant that follows me around, is someone I pay, who works for me. If they systematically did something I didn't like with my information; like sell me out to a beverage company and keep suggesting i try Budweiser light lime mohito... then I'd fire them, and hire a personal assistant who had the sense not to pull that kind of shit.

      So, no it is nothing like a personal assistant. Its a lot more like a creepy stalker, who i am not paying, who is taking notes about what am doing even after i told them to fuck off, and who sold out to Budweiser to put lime mojito banners every where i turn since they saw me drink a beer once.

      I'd welcome a digital personal assisant that worked for me... that actively sheilded me from ads, that told budweiser to get bent, that didn't try to increase my spending on shit i didn't need and dress it up as as 'service'... etc.

        FB / Amazon / etc is NOT THAT THING.

    5. Re:researchers are confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No it isn't. This would be an opt-in service.

      Why do you think so? None of the other tracking is opt-in - unless you count "using facebook at all" as an opt-in to being tracked.

      And even if it is opt-in - they will surely arrange things so your service is noticeably degraded if you don't opt-in. Anything new and cool, you have to opt-in . The new version of the app will need the camera, or you're stuck with some old increasingly obsolete version that you don't even get on a new phone.

    6. Re:researchers are confused. by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      It is creepy. You don't have to be paranoid. Think of FB as a creep and stalker that follows you around.

      I seem to have missed the news item about the new government mandatory requirement to have your FB-connected smartphone with you at all times.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    7. Re:researchers are confused. by DickBreath · · Score: 1

      > This would be an opt-in service.

      Yes, I can see it.

      By agreeing to the TOS, you are opting in. About 2/3 of the way through the TOS, on page 223, in fine print, you authorize FaceTwit to harvest your and your family's vital organs in the middle of the night, unless your mobile phone company or internet service provider has already gotten them first.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  4. no one NEEDS facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is just another step towards proving that. maybe the masses will never learn, maybe its too late, but at least i have started getting my friends and family to drop the app off of their phones. They are already spending more time outside and enjoying more of the world around them.

    It also removes the performance anxiety that facebook creates.

    Free your self from your voluntary slavery, facebook adds no net benefit to your life, only stress, anxiety and fake friends.

    1. Re:no one NEEDS facebook by DickBreath · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Facebook's masses remind me of Apple's 1985 Lemmings commercial. I don't plan to ever create FaceTwit accounts. I have actual friends.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  5. feedback by batukhan · · Score: 1

    What would be interesting is letting AI observe the emotions and then letting it choose content to affect those emotions, to learn how it's actions affect the emotions. It's sort of a communication. Like you're talking to the news.

    1. Re:feedback by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      My thinking is that if FaceBook can access my phone and listen to me, then I can listen to CEO's and how they run their businesses. Hell I can listen and watch anyone for any reason. What could possibly go wrong with this?

    2. Re:feedback by DickBreath · · Score: 1

      Didn't FB already plan to do this? Wasn't there recently an article about FB learning to recognize, then manipulate and take advantage of vulnerable teens for corporate profits? it's exciting! It increases shareholder value!

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  6. And suddenly... by Kokuyo · · Score: 1

    ...we know why their webapp works so crappily on mobile browsers. Get the idiots to use the apps, which basically want root access.

  7. Fuck Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hopefully enough said. I also hope to live to see the day when Zuckerberg is tried and convicted for stealing from all of us. They are shit.

    1. Re:Fuck Facebook by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      the NWO

      Oh dear.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  8. They are going to lock me up... by Tesen · · Score: 2

    If my phone can monitor my facial expressions while at work some AI is going to call the white coats on me or think I am about to go postal ;)

    1. Re:They are going to lock me up... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      If you think that's bad, I got voted "As Most Likely to Go Postal" at one company. Supposedly because I'm too quiet when working and no one knows what would set me off. (I've seen enough BS in my life that it isn't worth the trouble to get upset about.) Which was funny since we had a guy who took a baseball to his cube — and wasn't fired for destroying company property. It didn't take me long to put my resume out.

    2. Re:They are going to lock me up... by DickBreath · · Score: 2

      Wouldn't it be more profitable and increase shareholder value more for FB to conduct an online vote on whether you should go postal or not? And let's not forget the huge crowd draw, and related advertising opportunities, for a FB Live should you decide to do so.

      But you can rest assured that FB would never take a side, one way or the other, on whether you should go postal or not. Nope. Nosiree.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  9. This is why you *DO NOT* run Facebook apps. by emil · · Score: 1

    Here is a handy Facebook client for Android that provides access to Messenger:

    F-Droid Face Slim

    The above client is a 3rd-party open source wrapper. It will not update itself automatically without asking. It will not suddenly drain your battery dry. It will not access any sensors on your device without your approval. It will not gather your contacts and upload them for recruiting and advertising.

    Facebook does all of these things and more. Burn it off your phone with a blowtorch.

    1. Re:This is why you *DO NOT* run Facebook apps. by walterhpdx · · Score: 1

      It's really a pity that A) more people don't know about how intrusive the Facebook apps are and B) that it took me so long to realize that very fact. No, Facebook, just because I have your Messenger app to keep in touch with people who I don't want to have my cellphone number doesn't mean that I want you to continually listen, even when I'm not using your app.

  10. Just because a company patents something... by 91degrees · · Score: 1

    Doesn't mean they will use it.

    If they have a patentable invention, they'll patent it. Patents have value. Other companies might want to licence it, or it might be something that can offer as part of a negotiation or settlement with another company.

    Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. Depends on whether they think this will make money.

  11. And because it's facebook... by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

    ... people will see this as being a great idea. All hail facebook and their endless stream of brilliant ideas!

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  12. Re:Cool. by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    The problem with Japanese words is that you can't tell by their sound what you'll get. Any word may return results for some delicious sushi variant or some weird ass porn fetish you didn't even fathom possible.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  13. Re:Cool. by DickBreath · · Score: 1

    I didn't know what to expect. But it sounds like fun activity for a group of friends, whether you are giving or getting. Definitely NSFW.

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  14. Too Late by Dracos · · Score: 1

    Given their track record, if facebook says they want to do this, chances are they're already doing it somewhere as a test.

    1. Re:Too Late by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Given their track record, if facebook says they want to do this, chances are they're already doing it somewhere as a test.

      I guarantee they're doing it in a "testing" mode to some of their users. That's a given.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  15. Good news for those who like privacy by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

    Facebook applied for a patent.
    If the patent is granted, only Facebook will be able to spy on you like this. Or at least, it will require other parties do deal with Facebook first before they can implement this technology for themselves.
    And if you are privacy conscious, you probably don't use Facebook, so that's a win.

  16. cites found via googling 'shadow account' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/firm-facebooks-shadow-profiles-are-frightening-dossiers-on-everyone/
    https://www.groovypost.com/news/facebook-shadow-accounts-non-users/

    lots more if you do it yourself

  17. Mobile browser issues & Messenger by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 1

    I refuse to install the Facebook and Messenger app, in part for crap like this. So previously if I had to respond to a FB message on the go, I would open up Chrome and go to Messenger.com, no problem. Now, when I do, and type, something weird happens - only one word appears. When I type a second word, the first disappears, and just that word is there. I can't type out a sentence. I tried it with Firefox, and can't even log into Messenger.com - it just hangs on the main page saying "Sign in with Facebook to get started", and I'm signed in on another tab, but it doesn't log in or progress...wtf??

    1. Re:Mobile browser issues & Messenger by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

      "I refuse to install the Facebook and Messenger app"

      Full stop. I won't dabble in Facebook, period. I don't have an account and never will.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    2. Re:Mobile browser issues & Messenger by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 1

      Sadly for some friends and work I have to remain a part of it, but it's as little as possible.

    3. Re:Mobile browser issues & Messenger by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      "I refuse to install the Facebook and Messenger app"

      Full stop. I won't dabble in Facebook, period. I don't have an account and never will.

      Such courage.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    4. Re:Mobile browser issues & Messenger by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Such courage.

      Thank you for recognizing my stalwart attitude and incredible force of will.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  18. They will give blood samples to FaceBook by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
    The amount of outrage shown by a few about intrusiveness of Facebook is quite quaint.

    If Facebook interfaces with a continuous blood flow monitor, people would proudly broadcast their harmone levels to the whole world.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  19. I'm sorry, you can't do that, facebook. by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    If you keep stopping computers from watching your emotions in the background, you're never gonna have cool science fiction wonders like the Ash, David, and HAL 9000 lines.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  20. Re:Just becuse this bit is opt out by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    Facebook is creepy, they don't ask for permission to follow you around

    Hundreds of companies track you with cookies, etc. NONE of them ask for permission. That is not a Facebook issue, and has nothing to do with turning on your camera without your permission.

  21. Keep the camera covered up by mrflash818 · · Score: 2

    ...just like you do on your home PC. It's your life. Control your own privacy as best you can, if you still choose to use a smart phone.

    When you want to do selfies, fine, it's your choice, and then uncover the camera, otherwise, keep the camera covered.

    For the really hard-core, do not even own a smart phone. Use the free-with-your-plan models that just voice and text and camera, and have a removable battery. Keep the phone in a case that covers the camera lens, blacking it out, and making any attempts to covertly take pictures when you do not want it to, not possible. Remove the battery when not in use.

    --
    Uh, Linux geek since 1999.
    1. Re:Keep the camera covered up by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Keep the camera covered up just like you do on your home PC.

      Or, just don't have a Facebook account. Problem solved.

      But if you want to have to constantly take countermeasures against an entity that TELLS YOU it's going to spy on you, be my guest.

      Having Facebook on your phone is like inviting a crack-addicted thief to live in your home and then rationalizing to yourself the need to hire a security guard to watch him 24 hours a day.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  22. As if by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    As if I needed another reason not to have a Facebook account...

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  23. Stallman on Facebook by emil · · Score: 1

    His advice? In no uncertain terms, delete your account immediately.

    This is far from a unique opinion.

  24. Bring on the activity lights by trawg · · Score: 1

    Smartphones need an activity light (i.e., the little light that shows the camera is active/recording) like fucking yesterday. Every time I'm doing something on my phone I have no idea if the fucker is watching me back.

  25. Re:Cool. by drew_kime · · Score: 1

    The problem with Japanese words is that you can't tell by their sound what you'll get. Any word may return results for some delicious sushi variant or some weird ass porn fetish you didn't even fathom possible.

    Frequently it will be both.

    --
    Nope, no sig
  26. Which is why Facebook doesn't get used on my phone by rnturn · · Score: 2

    See above. The only application that I allow to access my phone's camera (knowingly, anyway) is the camera application.

    Does Facebook even realize that many companies don't allow camera on the premises? Heck, I can recall it was nearly ten years ago sitting in company meetings where sensitive business plans were to be discussed and everyone was asked to turn off their phones and put them away. And it wasn't because of the potential for an annoying ringtone interrupting the meeting. Corporate espionage aside, the invasion of privacy that something like this potentially opens up is mind boggling. It sure seems to me that they're not thoroughly thinking through these ideas before making them public.

    --
    CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
  27. You can't read emotion on a face by maiden_taiwan · · Score: 1

    All these approaches to "read" emotion from people's faces are going to fail because faces don't broadcast emotion. Recent research shows that emotions are constructed differently from person to person, from situation to situation.

  28. Previous Art? by prince+hal · · Score: 2

    Maybe Facebook's business model is based on patenting ideas stolen from dystopian literature (e.g. 1984, Farenheit 451, Brave New World, etc.)?

  29. I've noticed length of active window time on... by Rooked_One · · Score: 1

    ... an subject or person will cause said person/subject to appear more or less. I bet they track mouse actions as well. Facebook will be able to predict how you feel about most subjects to a pretty high percentage very soon... if not already

  30. Re:Just becuse this bit is opt out by DickBreath · · Score: 1

    So if others are also being creepy it makes FB less creepy?

    Maybe that should be a lesson for sexual predators. If there are enough of them, then it is the new normal, and everything is okay.

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.