It is astonishing to see the progress of Facebook capabilities in such a short period of time. At one point in time Facebook was just simple social networking tool and now has become equipped with operations and capabilities fit of an elite intelligence agency.

Recently, Facebook has launched a new feature into their apps that may have you uneasy about the actual function of the 'social networking' tool. With the most recent and startling update to their mobile messenger app, Facebook can now listen in via your phone or tablet's microphone. The 'ease dropping' capabilities of this app do not stop at recording audio.

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If you actually read the terms and condition of the app - as most of us do not - you will find that the Facebook app is upping its permission requests upon an issued update warning. The request is to be granted permission to access call logs and the ability to directly call phone contacts. Permission of update also allows the app to gain access to protected storage, modify or delete USB storage content, all the way utilizing your camera for pictures/video and audio recording.

Facebook states that they are respecting your privacy while they access your property. They claim that while surrounding audio is definitely being recorded, they are not storing exactly what microphones are picking up.

Facebook representatives say that the app tries to match an audio 'fingerprint' from your environment, fitting it to one in its database. According to the app tech team at Facebook, the goal is to familiarize your listening patterns to see what particular show or song you are interested in.

For the time being this update is optional for users. However, some speculate that it is only a matter of time before Facebook will demand this update or the outdated messenger will become inoperable.

At some point in time there will be new information explaining the steps Facebook takes to keep this microphone/camera data anonymous. This new information will also detail how convenient and useful the messenger really is. However, at this point in time it is leaving multiple Facebook users with some ill feelings.

TagsPrivacy, Social network, mobile messenger app