Facebook ‘secretly building TV box that can film you’ – and it could have Netflix and Disney apps on too
FACEBOOK is secretly building a TV streaming box with a built-in camera, according to a new report.
The social media giant is also said to be "in talks" with Netflix and Disney – in hopes of getting their popular apps onto the device.
Earlier this year, Facebook was rumoured to be producing a smart camera that sits on top of your telly.
But a new report from claims that the device will actually be a telly streaming box.
It would work like a Now TV box, Roku box or Apple TV – and would feature a physical remote.
However, it would also have a camera inside that could film you during video calls with Facebook friends.
Facebook already has a similar device called the Portal, but this is a standalone smart screen that sits on a surface – like your kitchen counter.
This new device, codenamed Catalina, would plug into your TV according to two sources "familiar with the project".
The report claims that Facebook has approached Netflix, Disney, Hulu, HBO and Amazon about getting access to their streaming services.
And it's expected that Facebook will launch the device towards the end of 2019.
Worryingly, the TV smart-camera concept is like something from George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, which sees society constantly being watched and controlled.
But Facebook has stressed its devices are all about improving human connection.
"Hardware is coming to the home, and we want to make sure that human connection, connection between two people, is a first-party experience on that hardware," said Facebook exec Adam Bosworth.
Facebook has already battled some major privacy scandals in recent months.
This piles on the pressure to reassure customers that its home camera gear won't be hacked.
"There is always a concern, or at least the user should approach this with a healthy sense of concern, when using devices with cameras and microphones attached," Boris Cipot, senior security engineer at Synopsys, told The Sun.
"Once plugged in they immediately become an audio/video data gatherer and transmitter.
"This is their functionality, this is true, but the big question is then what happens when I am not using the device, what data is gathered and stored, can I as a user delete or access this data, how transparent is the data usage, and so on.
"So the question is not if it is secure to keep a camera in the middle of your home, but whether you trust the provider to make this device as secure as possible and ensure that it will not be used by third parties to view me in front of my screen without knowing it or initiate streaming – or whether I trust the company to not to misuse the gathered data."
We've asked Facebook and Netflix for comment and will update this story with any response.
Facebook's biggest cyber-security mistakes
Here's some of the major times Facebook let us down...
- In 2007, Facebook's first targetted advertising product, Beacon, caused outrage because there was initally no opt-in option about the kinds of information users wanted to share
- In 2009, a Federal Trade Commission investigation was triggered because Facebook users complained that the new privacy tools were too confusing and pushed users to make more of their personal information public
- In 2010, it was revealed that advertisers were using a privacy loophole to retrieve revealing personal information about Facebook users and the company had to change its software
- In 2011, the FTC charged Facebook with lying to customers about how their information could be kept private but making it public anyway
- 2018 saw Facebook's biggest privacy scandal to date with reports that Cambridge Analytica misused user data and Facebook had to admit that it had failed to protect its users
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In other news, Facebook now lets you double-tap to ‘like’ posts – so be careful in your next stalking session.
A recent Facebook hoax tricked users into posting "completely pointless" status updates.
And Facebook and Instagram are getting worse as apps are ‘crashing 281% more’ this year.
Would you trust Facebook to put a TV box with a built-in camera inside your living room? Let us know in the comments!
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