By Joanna Stern
I've had one of Facebook's new video-calling gadgets, the
Portal+, in my home for the last week. And by "in my home," I mean,
in the basement, in a closet, in a box, in a bag that's in another
bag that's covered with old coats.
I just couldn't bring myself to set up Facebook's
camera-embedded screen in the privacy of my family's home. Can you
blame me when you look at the last 16 months?
The personal data of millions of users was accessed for
political purposes without consent. Whoops. False news articles
were deliberately spread across our feeds to hoax us. Whoops again.
Hackers gained access to nearly 50 million accounts, the
largest-ever security breach at the social network. Giant
whoopsies.
Ironically, Facebook thinks its first branded hardware products
might help with its current challenges. Equipped with wide-angle
follow-you-around cameras, microphones and screens, the $200 Portal
and $350 Portal+ are all about saying good night to Pop-Pop and
Grammy at bedtime, or calling Uncle George for the secret
pasta-sauce recipe when you're cooking in the kitchen. Facebook's
Portals can call other Portals, or anyone with the Facebook
Messenger app.
"People continue to use Facebook because they want to stay close
to friends and family," Facebook's vice president of consumer
hardware, Andrew Bosworth, told me. "This device is entirely
focused on those deep and meaningful connections that, going back
10 years, were the core of Facebook."
Except it is so not 10 years ago. Just over half of Facebook
users age 18 or older say they have adjusted their privacy settings
in the past 12 months, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
Plus, people in the U.S. are spending less time on Facebook,
according to Pivotal Research Group's analysis of Nielsen data.
"We have to earn that trust back," Mr. Bosworth says. "This
device is up to the challenge and could be a part of that shift."
The problem? No matter how good this gadget is -- and it is good --
trust has to be earned. All of Facebook's promises now need to be
more carefully evaluated. Here's my trust evaluation of the
Portal.
Facebook's Promise: Portal feels like being together in the same
room.
My Assessment: True. The Portal+, with its 15.6-inch giant
rotatable screen, is one of the most immersive video-chatting
experiences I've ever had. (I never did set it up in my home, but I
tested it at work.)
The devices provide a really great experience, especially when a
couple of people are together on it. With a 12-megapixel camera,
wide-angle lens and person-detection software, the system
recognizes where different people are. (If you both have Portals,
you can tap faces on the screen to zoom in.) The camera also pans
and zooms, virtually, following the people as they move in the
room. It sounds creepy, but it really did make me, in New York
City, feel like I was in the room with Mr. Bosworth and Rafa
Camargo, Portal team vice president, who were at Facebook
headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
Facebook has loaded the device up with fun features, too. The
face masks are entertaining -- at least for a few moments. The
interactive children's books are neat -- if I were willing to put
my son's face in front of this thing. And Spotify's group listening
allows you to fire up your favorite song -- so everyone can do the
macarena. There's even Alexa -- yes, that Alexa -- ready to tell
you the weather and turn off the lights.
Facebook's Promise: Facebook doesn't listen to, view or keep the
contents of your Portal video calls.
My Assessment: True. But don't fool yourself if you think
Facebook isn't collecting some data about you from this device.
When I asked about the popular Facebook mic conspiracy, Mr.
Bosworth assured me that "it is not true, it will continue to not
be true." On the Portals, specifically, he made a number of privacy
and security assurances:
-- You can disable the camera and microphone by pressing the button on top
of the device. This physically disconnects them so even if the Portal
were hacked, they wouldn't be accessible.
-- As an added measure, you can block the camera lens with an included
plastic camera cover.
-- All the smart-camera technology -- the person detection, etc. -- happens
locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal's camera doesn't use
facial recognition to identify people on the call.
-- Like all Messenger calls and messages, all communications are encrypted.
-- Like Amazon Echo or Google Home, Portal only sends voice commands to
Facebook servers after you say, "Hey Portal." You can delete Portal's
voice history in your Facebook Activity Log.
However, because this is using Facebook Messenger, the data that
is typically collected from a call is still collected. That
includes your call history, how long you spent talking to certain
contacts, etc. Also, the sheer use of the device indicates to
Facebook you're interested in video calling, so you may be targeted
for that. Speaking of ads, Facebook said there are no ads on the
Portal's screen, and the company doesn't have plans to show ads
there.
Facebook's Promise: The Portal was designed so you're always in
control of your privacy and security.
My Assessment: It's hard to believe we really have any control
of our Facebook data and privacy given the last year. I might be a
little more comfortable if Facebook could just roll out the privacy
controls it already promised us, but that's not the only thing
keeping me away from the social network.
Even Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg believes the
company is at least a year away from fighting abuse and
misinformation "at the level we want." Plus, there have just been
too many instances of inattention and sloppiness. Remember in June
when a bug changed default privacy settings for 14 million users?
Whoops again. With Apple, Amazon and even Google, things feel
different.
Despite Mr. Bosworth's earnest assurances, I still couldn't
bring myself to set up the Portal in my kitchen and call my
mother-in-law with my son in my lap. Luckily for all of us,
Facebook didn't invent video calling.
--For more WSJ Technology analysis, reviews, advice and
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Write to Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 08, 2018 09:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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