Facebook has a patent application for a way to use your smartphone’s microphone to eavesdrop on you without your knowledge. The system triggers with a sound too high for humans to hear, records whatever your phone’s mic can pick up, and then sends the data back to Facebook. Don’t worry about that being creepy because Facebook says the patent is to stop other companies from spying on us, and they won’t ever use this tech on us. Or so they tell Mashable. If only Facebook didn’t have a history of abusing our privacy.
Check It Out: Facebook is Patenting Spying On Us Through Our Smartphones
I have to wonder if Apple is really serious about privacy why do they allow Facebook to abuse their devices like this?
Well, considering that the date on the patent application (which cites no prior art) is Dec. 12, 2016, and that the technique was in the news [Ars Technica] more than a year before that, Facebook is going to have difficulty establishing precedence, should push come to shove.