Facebook Has The Answer To Your Question About Privacy On The Portal

New video chat devices from Facebook, Portal and Portal Plus, are now on sale in the US.

After all the security breach and massive hacks involving millions of people, Facebook still decided to put more cameras and microphone in its customers’ homes.

According to vice president of virtual reality and augmented reality at Facebook, Andrew Bosworth, the company creates a new product when it thinks consumers can benefit from it.

And since the increasing video calls are facing drawbacks such as users have to hold the phone tight or stay close to it, Facebook thinks of Portal. The device comes with a smart camera for automatically framing the person on call. Bosworth said this device is meant to connect family and friends.

Privacy experts warn consumers against the collection of information and management through smart devices. So on Wednesday, Facebook revealed more about how it’s conserving users’ security and privacy.

What data Portal collects

In general, Facebook will only collect data about how often the calls occur, how long they last and where they’re made, but not about what you say in the calls.

For example, since the device is linked to the Facebook messenger, the frequency of your calls may be used for ad targeting on other social networks like Instagram. Portal also comes with Alexa, Amazon’s smart assistant, but Bosworth said it cannot see or collect any information from users’ interactions.

In case Portal fails, Facebook already stores the data with users’ feedbacks. The device also records your voice command when you say “Hey Portal,” but Facebook will not use that for ad targeting.

Bosworth said the company uses some collected data for product improvement. Facebook wants to know the call location for ensuring users have adequate "internet infrastructure backbone links" to power the calls.

Does Portal record videos?

Users cannot use the device to capture a video or broadcast a live video via Facebook.

Does Portal allow deleting voice command history?

Yes, it does. You can open your Facebook activity log to delete it.

Will its camera detect users’ friends or family?

Nope, Facebook claims it does not detect people on the call.

What else has Facebook done to control security and privacy on the device?

You can turn off your camera and microphone as well as mute calls when you want. Plus, the system encrypts the calls and Portal’s AI technology operates locally.

Bosworth explained when turning off the camera and microphone, it means you turn off the backplane which powers them so they cannot be switched on in software.

Will users see Facebook ads on Portal?

For now, there won’t be any Facebook ads, yet ads from third-party apps like Pandora or Spotify may pop up if you downloaded them on Portal. A spokesman from Facebook stated Facebook doesn’t have future plans for its ads on Portal.

Bosworth stressed that if users are familiar with Messenger, they should be comfortable with the way Facebook is collecting data.