BY: KHADIJA KHAN
Many companies have recently capitalized on the growing trend of Internet-enabled devices, which allow you to access the Internet from, say, your TV. However, it seems now that the biggest screen in your house will be listening and recording what you say in front of it. This is part of Samsung’s privacy policy.
Samsung’s SmartTV has a feature called the Smart Hub. This is where you can play games, flip through channels and launch apps while surfing the web. All of this is done through voice command or a gesture. The TV comes equipped with a microphone installed for voice recognition and a camera for the facial recognition system along with a motion sensor for gestures.
However, the main controversy stems from Samsung’s policy: If you enable Voice Recognition, you can interact with your SmartTV using your voice. To provide you the Voice Recognition feature, some voice commands may be transmitted (along with information about your device, including device identifiers) to a third-party service that converts speech to text or to the extent necessary to provide the Voice Recognition features to you. In addition, Samsung may collect and your device may capture voice commands and associated texts so that we can provide you with Voice Recognition features and evaluate and improve the features.
This disclaimer then wraps up with these haunting last lines: 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.
Naturally, 1984 comparisons have flooded the net:
Left: Samsung SmartTV privacy policy, warning users not to discuss personal info in front of their TV Right: 1984 pic.twitter.com/osywjYKV3W
— Parker Higgins (@xor) February 8, 2015
However, if you disable the voice recognition feature, Samsung will still collect data about the usage of the TV to improve their services. Samsung made a statement saying that consumer safety is a priority and the data is encrypted for privacy but if owners want to keep their data safe, they can disconnect their TV from wi-fi.
George Orwell’s 1984 proves to be an accurate depiction of how technology can infringe on our privacy. As our society moves forward, with our eyes increasingly fixated to screens, it’s important to monitor and question the way in which these new technologies look back at us.
Although the policy can be seen as a caveat, it is no surprise that the introduction of new technology makes it harder for private lives to remain that way.
Sources: goodfon.su, idg.bg, ibtimes.co.uk, oystermag.com
