A year ago, in the media appeared some reports indicating that big companies from multimedia market such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple or Google were using voice recordings of their clients without the knowledge of them. They were to be processed and used to improve speech recognition devices. These rumors did not translate into penalties for companies, but it is true that these companies are working on voice recognition technologies. Well, at least Facebook does it, which is confirmed with its latest announcement.
Facebook has made available to its users application named Viewpoints, and it has a special program called "Pronunciations". While using it, adult US residents whose have at least 75 friends on Facebook can make short voice recordings that Facebook will use and reward. They are to rely on recording short commands. These recordings will be used to improve voice recognition technologies, and the customers themselves will receive 200 points in the Viewpoints application for one recording. After collecting 1000 points, then points can be exchanged for the equivalent of 5$.