Here’s All Facebook Says Not Tracking With Its Portal Device
Facebook’s new video chatting device, the portal, goes on sale today. Be careful picking one up and it will log into your Facebook account so you can make hands-free video calls, display photos, play music, stream video content, and more.
Considering the portal is a Facebook product and will contain ads and Amazon Alexa AI, no less, you’re probably a little worried about what Facebook will do with what the portal hears and sees. Since these concerns are probably the biggest reason Facebook fans wo n’t want to use the portal, the company recently took to its blog to allay consumer concerns about its data collection practices and device privacy. Here are the key takeaways on privacy and portal advertising:
Your video calls on the portal are completely confidential
Right from the start, Facebook says that the portal “does not listen to, view, or save the content of your video calling portal,” and that your calls are encrypted. These are probably the answers of the biggest users question there is about the device Facebook, and it is smart for Facebook to be clear about this if you trust the company. In a world where Google scans your email to understand what you’re talking about and where AI assistants always listen when needed, it’s reasonable to wonder what Portal can do with your video calls.
Facebook will collect data from the portal
Portal calls may be private, but Facebook will still collect some data from the device. Your overall portal usage metrics (for example, how often you use it, what applications / access you name, and the duration of your calls) are all fair play. Facebook already collects a similar amount of data from its Messenger app, but like text data in Messenger, your portal conversations remain encrypted.
Other information gathered from the portal includes performance data such as its screen resolution, call quality and volume level, as well as crash logs. From the sound of things, the information gathered from the portal devices will be mainly used to help Facebook traverse Portal better and fix bugs, although this is certainly not the whole picture.
The portal will show targeted ads
Although the content of your video calls on the portal will remain intact for Facebook and not be available to outsiders, the information that Facebook does collect from the portal can be used for targeted advertising. Also, while the portal does display ads, they are not from Facebook. Most likely they will be from third party partners such as Music or video streaming services or related applications. For example, if you are using the portal to make a bunch of video calls, you might start seeing advertisements about video calling apps.
Portal uses AI and Alexa voice commands
The portal uses Facebook’s patented AI technologies called Smart Camera and Smart Sound. Smart camera means that the camera portal will automatically move to keep everything in frame and focused, while Smart Sound uses AI to improve vocal quality.
According to Facebook, AI Technology Portal works locally on the device itself, and not on Facebook’s servers. And since smart cameras and Smart Sound are not facial or vocal recognition technologies, Facebook cannot use them to identify you or your friends. However, the portal’s Alexa software stores the history of voice commands and shares it with Facebook. Facebook advises that this data is not used for advertising and you can delete it at any time via the Facebook activity log (here you can also manage other data about your Facebook activity for recording).