Facebook seeks technology patent to activate microphone of smartphones. Image Courtesy – http://time.com
Facebook has filed a patent application in USA for a complex process to activate users’ devices to record environment audio surrounding and fetch that in the form of database back to the company. In that way, the company may gather the detail information of your conversation, any sound of your room or bedroom, which is completely disrespectful to your privacy.
As per the news report of ‘Metro’ in USA, the application described that Facebook might turn on your mobile phone’s microphone to start recording from distance and without physical contact. The company would incorporate ‘high-pitched audio signals’ in ‘broadcasting material’ that would be imperceptible to human beings. Though a human being is not able to hear it, but it would still be audible through a mobile device.
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Facebook commented that it had no intention for any time to implement the ‘technology’ explained in the application. If that was the logic, then a question may come to anybody’s mind – why the company applied for a patent so early?
Allen Lo, the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Head of Intellectual Property at Facebook, told that approaching for a patent was a common practice to prevent belligerence of other companies. He also told that approach for a patent usually performed focussing on future technology; and it was often hypothetical obtaining commercialising tendency of other companies.
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In his words, Facebook was trying to get the patent just to protect people from other companies that might want to record private information of the people through their phones’ microphones some day or sometime. Allen Lo has assured the people talking to the media that Facebook would never use the technology that it was trying to patent, and also assured that the technology has not been incorporated in any of their products.
