Facebook's new patent | or research and development of automatic detection of user income system

Netease Technology News February 3, Facebook has been very understanding of our information, but if a new patented technology can become a reality, it may soon be able to guess your income level. The social media Giants want to create a system to collect personal data of users, such as education, housing and network usage, and to predict their socio-economic conditions.

The patent, which was filed on July 27, 2016 but was just released on Thursday, is an algorithm designed to help Facebook improve its user-targeting capabilities so that it can serve users Provide more relevant advertising. Facebook will make decision trees based on the user's age and answers to questions about their own age.

Questions for users 20 to 30 years of age include questions about how many connected devices they have, and those 30 to 40 years old who need to answer their own home. Other information also considers a person's travel history, what the user has Of the devices, how many networked devices they have, and their highest level of education.

The patent argues that usually a user's socioeconomic status is related to his income, but Facebook also acknowledges that there is no doubt that users will not want to publish their annual income levels, and the patent book states: "The online system usually Users do not receive revenue information because users tend to be confidential about their own revenue information, which may be sensitive information in online systems.

Therefore, Facebook avoids the issue of income, but deduces the user's income by means of other personal information, which not only uses the information provided by the user on the platform but also relates to the operation information that the user performs on the Facebook. Writes: 'By predicting a user's socio-economic status, Facebook can help deliver third-party content to specific users, and third parties can effectively promote their products or services so that online systems provide a more compelling user experience.'

Facebook will use the decision tree to divide the user community into three levels, the working class, the middle class and the high-class class. It is not yet clear whether the patent will actually be used for user classification. A Facebook spokesman said: 'We often look for We never implement technology patents, and these patents should not be seen as an indication of future plans for Facebook. '

Facebook has always been criticized for knowing too much about user information, and many consider it disrespectful of the user's privacy. Facebook has already applied for other patents related to tracking users, one of which describes a user- Emotional response to detection system.Another patent describes a technology, even if the user does not take the initiative to use the camera, but also through the phone or laptop camera user photos.

Facebook will use relevant data to monitor users' emotional reactions to specific content, however, such a technical result may encounter technical problems, even worse is the possibility of becoming a 'minefield of ethics'.