It seems like every day you bring a new piece of sick tech into your house, but do you ever think about how much they’re keeping tabs on you? Sure, we all know the NSA are monitoring everyone’s Google searches, but even your TV could theoretically be recording you.
Eagle eyed Samsung customers have found a worrying disclaimer in the privacy policy of their Smart TV devices:
“Please be aware 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 through your use of voice recognition.”
So, in theory, you shouldn’t say anything confidential in front of your TV. The voice-activation functions mean that potentially anything you say in earshot of it could be recorded. In practice, it’s highly unlikely to be happening, but it is worth being aware that it’s something hackers or advertisers could exploit Samsung played down fears to The Guardian. “Samsung takes consumer privacy very seriously…. We employ industry-standard security safeguards and practices, including data encryption, to secure consumers’ personal information and prevent unauthorised collection or use. Samsung does not retain voice data or sell it to third parties.”
Twitter is already comparing it to George Orwell's '1984':
In truth, this is nothing new, and there’s plenty of everyday tech that could potentially do the same thing. The NSA even banned Furbies from their offices over fears they could record national secrets.
