Would you have a Facebook Portal camera in your house? Me neither | Arwa Mahdawi

The company says its new smart screen for making video calls is built with privacy in mind. Yeah, we’ve heard that one before …

Donald Trump has boasted he could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and still wouldn’t lose voters. Facebook, it would seem, is confident it enjoys the same unthinking loyalty. Just days after it announced a major security flaw affecting millions of users, the company launched Portal, a smart screen riddled with tracking technology.

Portal, which will go on sale next month in the US, is supposedly designed to make video chatting hands-free and immersive. A smart camera follows you around and ensures you stay in view while the system minimises background noise and enhances the voice of whoever is talking. “It’s like having your own cinematographer and sound crew direct your personal video calls,” Facebook says. It doesn’t mention the fact that said cinematographer has a history of flogging your personal information to all and sundry.

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from US news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2EjyYB5