https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/02/facebook-offers-to-pay-users-for-their-voice-recordings/
Facebook is offering to pay its users for personal information including recordings of their own voice, in a rare example of internet companies directly compensating people for collecting their data.
[...]Makers of smart speakers including Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google faced criticism last year when it emerged that they were routinely sending users’ voice recordings to human moderators, without revealing the practice to customers or obtaining their consent.
[...]The social network’s Viewpoints app, which was first released three months ago to test new features and survey users, this week began to invite users in the US to say “Hey Portal” and the names of up to 10 friends. Going through the recording process five times would earn points that can be converted into a $5 cash reward.
[...]Facebook said this week that its latest Viewpoints feature was designed to “improve speech understanding”, by training machine-learning algorithms, which rely on a large amount of examples to improve their accuracy and performance.
[...]Any data gathered though Viewpoints “helps us build better apps and services and benefit the community”, Facebook said on the service’s website. “We don’t share your Facebook Viewpoints activity on Facebook or on other accounts you’ve linked without your permission. We also don’t sell your information from this app to third parties.”
However, the Viewpoints data policy notes that some information collected using the app, such as payment and device data, can be used to personalize other Facebook apps and target advertising. Data [gathered] during a Viewpoints research program may also be shared with “research partners”, including academics, publishers and advertisers, though Facebook said participants would be informed if that was the case.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @04:13AM (1 child)
Get $5 now, shrink the job market later.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Saturday February 22 2020, @02:27PM
Get $5 now, we'll use the info against you later.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday February 22 2020, @04:29AM
Gossip, rumors, anything. There's some serious cash to made there. So stop giving it away for free. This is going to kill the print tabloids.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by black6host on Saturday February 22 2020, @04:55AM (1 child)
If they're willing to pay $5 what do you think they've valued such information to be worth? I don't see Facebook taking a loss, though perhaps it could be considered the cost of research. You'd be hard pressed to convince me, however, that they're happy to take a loss.
Could we see bidding wars in the future? Multiple devils to whom we could sell our souls?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @05:12AM
There won't be any bidding war. The bots will be fully trained within 5 years or so, and your data will be mostly useless again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @05:09AM
Or do their partners already provide them with that?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 22 2020, @07:47AM (5 children)
I have complained in the past, that if Big Data wants my personal information, they should pay me for it. So, here they are offering cold hard coin. Now we find out how many five-dollar whores there are. I might could possibly sell my data, but sure as hell not for five bucks. That is, I might whore myself, but not for back-alley behind-the-bar prices.
Fuck Facefuck.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by barbara hudson on Saturday February 22 2020, @10:05AM (1 child)
Of course nobody has 50 real friends - the correct term is acquaintances. Or the next step outside the circle of acquaintances - people I run into once in a while.
The real question is "do people on Facebook have any real friends in the old definition - someone who will help you bury a body.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 22 2020, @03:54PM
Burying bodies is nothing. A REAL friend will fly around the world, wade through a crocodile infest swamp, wrestle two or three big cats, and grin a bear to death, for the opportunity to help you bury that body. But, you better have a trailer full of cold beer waiting for him.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday February 22 2020, @04:31PM (2 children)
Quit being a whiner and run the audio you sell them through a 30Hz ring mod like a proper geek should be doing in the first place.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday February 22 2020, @10:18PM (1 child)
Why? That would make one sound like a Gay Jewish Robot.
(Score: 4, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday February 23 2020, @12:55AM
Daleks are Jewish?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday February 22 2020, @11:15AM
it's probably because they're unable to obtain enough samples of sufficient quality just by recording behind people's back.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2020, @02:02PM
This is a great citation for future data privacy cases. The Internets biggest human-livestock-tagger has acknowledged that the ears it is riveting actually had value before the tag was applied.
Moo.