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

Posted by BeauHD on from the off-putting dept.

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.

8 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 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.
  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...

  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 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.

  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. 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...