Smart TV privacy policy lands Samsung in hot water

[Shawn Knight]

Samsung found itself in hot water over the weekend regarding a single sentence found in its Smart TV privacy policy.

Under the voice recognition section, Samsung notes that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party if you use the voice recognition feature to control your smart TV.

As you can imagine, the Internet was up in arms over the matter with some brushing it off and others comparing it to George Orwell’s 1984.

Samsung issued a statement to The Daily Beast in which they point out that they take consumer privacy very seriously and employ industry-standard safeguards and practices including encryption to secure personal information and prevent unauthorized collection or use. As for voice recognition, Samsung said this can be activated or deactivated by the user and that the owner can also disconnect the set from their Wi-Fi network if they so choose.

As Tom’s Guide notes, Samsung isn’t the only company that’s found itself in a similar situation. In 2013, for example, LG was caught collecting TV-based user information and even the names of locally stored media files.

If this tactic is so common, why don’t we hear about it more often? The answer is probably pretty simple – because we are lazy. Most people never bother to read end-user license agreements (EULAs) which are where admissions like this hide for legal reasons.

Even still, some are arguing that it’s not really that big of a deal. Think about it: things like smartphones, tablets, televisions, game consoles, headsets and alarm systems all have microphones (and many have cameras) attached. What’s that saying about treating every microphone as if it were live?

What’s your opinion on the matter? Are you fearful that Big Brother is watching and listening to your every move? Perhaps you’re aware of the possibility but simply don’t care or feel important enough to matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/59687-smart-tv-privacy-policy-lands-samsung-hot-water.html

 

[stewi0001]

I remember when Apple's siri came out, that IBM did not allow their employees to have an iPhone at work. I think that was an old article I read here.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Why the hell do you want to control your TV with your voice in the 1st place, is it too much effort to push a button on a remote or tap a few keys on a keyboard?
No one cared about voice recognition in the recent past but now that so much money has been spent on it it's being rammed down our throats just so some money can be reclaimed.

 

[tomkaten]

What's next, an invisible camera next to the IR receiver for Samsung's own home made porn collection ?

This is too much. Stop collecting stuff for products that we BUY. I get it, we're only renting the software and we're all advertising targets, but data collection should be forbidden for material stuff.

 

[RustyTech]

"If this tactic is so common, why don’t we hear about it more often? The answer is probably pretty simple – because we are lazy."

yep!

 

[Nilbud]

Why the hell do you want to control your TV with your voice in the 1st place, is it too much effort to push a button on a remote or tap a few keys on a keyboard?
No one cared about voice recognition in the recent past but now that so much money has been spent on it it's being rammed down our throats just so some money can be reclaimed.

A) Then don't buy one.
B) The technology didn't work until recently.
c) Regardless of what the put in their EULA you cannot sign away your rights, at least in the EU.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

A) Then don't buy one.
B) The technology didn't work until recently.
c) Regardless of what the put in their EULA you cannot sign away your rights, at least in the EU.

A) Then don't buy one what?
B) The technology has been around for a very long time and still doesn't work properly.
C) Not everybody lives in the EU.

 

[MannerMauler]

Talk about the NSA....

 

[Guest]

If its connected your monitored one way or another data is probably worth more than the TV to them

 

[Badders]

Why the hell do you want to control your TV with your voice in the 1st place, is it too much effort to push a button on a remote or tap a few keys on a keyboard?

Back in the days when remote-controls were only rumoured, I think it's pretty likely that people said 'Is it too much trouble to get up off your arse and go press a button on the TV?'

 

[Guest]

If the data is transmitted, it can be captured and it can be used against you.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Back in the days when remote-controls were only rumoured, I think it's pretty likely that people said 'Is it too much trouble to get up off your arse and go press a button on the TV?'

Probably but we were youngsters back then and it wasn't a problem, it was more like a necessity because mom and dad were usually watching garbage and we were too happy to watch something else.
Today, whether you're changing channels via remote or voice both take very little effort, unless you've misplaced the remote or you've had a little to much of the 'medicinal' sauce and are slurring, in which case you might go hoarse repeating yourself but whichever method you choose, you'll always look like less of a chump not talking to the TV (swearing is different).
Another point to remember is that when remotes first came out they were tethered via jack plug to the TV via a long cable which was always a pain in the arse to manage and we often unplugged it then adjusted the channel/volume manually. eventually we got used to stepping over it so when the infra red remotes hit the scene we were doing what we always did but without the messy tether.

 

[Guest]

Ah, I see what samsung are saying here..They are saying that when I buy my 4k tv (which I am looking into doing right now) I should look at other companies offerings such as LG, Sony etc and totally forget about samsung.
Thanks for the tip guys!