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One of the most popular conspiracy theories that pervade modern culture is how Facebook is supposedly spying on everything that people are doing. However, whereas most cases can be attributed to coincidence, this doesn’t mean that the social network doesn’t have such capabilities. In fact, a recent report discovered that Facebook had a patent that could allow it to tap the phones of users.
Originally reported by Metro, it would seem that the biggest social network in the world filed for a patent that could allow it to spy on people. It works by burying certain audio files in ads, which will be undetectable by human ears. Devices such as smartphones, however, will have no problem hearing such sounds.
Once it does, it will activate and start recording the reactions of the viewers. These recordings will then be sent to Facebook for analysis.
According to the abstract of the patent, as reported by Mashable, the system relies on “ambient audio” to work. These files contain their own unique fingerprints as well, which allows the social network to known which ads the viewers were watching or listening to.
"The online system, based on the ambient audio data, identifies the corresponding individual and content item and logs an impression for the content item upon determination that there was an impression of the identified content item by the identified individual," the abstract reads.
To its credit, Facebook has confirmed that it indeed does own such a patent and that it has access to such technology. However, it also tried to reassure the publication that no one at the firm had any intention of actually using it.
As to why it even bothered to file such a patent if it doesn’t plan to use it, Facebook VP and deputy general counsel Allen Lo gave Mashable the rundown, explaining the company’s reasons. Apparently, this was just a common practice among corporations.
“It is common practice to file patents to prevent aggression from other companies," Lo told the publication. "Because of this, patents tend to focus on future-looking technology that is often speculative in nature and could be commercialized by other companies."
