Even the TV may have ears

In this Thursday, Jan. 5, 2015 photo, models pose with a Samsung Electronics Co.' SUHD 4K smart TV during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea. Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday, Feb, 10, 2015, says voice recognition technology in its Internet connected TVs can capture and transmit nearby conversations.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

In this Thursday, Jan. 5, 2015 photo, models pose with a Samsung Electronics Co.' SUHD 4K smart TV during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea. Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday, Feb, 10, 2015, says voice recognition technology in its Internet connected TVs can capture and transmit nearby conversations.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Published Feb 10, 2015

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London - If you settle down to watch television this evening, you might want to think twice about what you say out loud.

Samsung has warned owners of its internet-connected ‘smart TV’ that anything they discuss while sitting near the device may be overheard.

The popular televisions are voice activated, so users can switch channels or ask for suggestions of what to watch simply by giving a verbal command. However, the technology which allows this to happen has a side effect: it records everything else that goes on near the television.

A clause in the Korean firm’s privacy policy warns: ‘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.’

That means it could, for example, record a family argument going on in the living room. Companies that use the televisions in boardrooms risk sharing confidential information such as employees’ salaries or business strategies.

An SA television expert points out that the television has to be connected to the Internet for the data to be transmitted.

Privacy campaigners drew comparisons between the TVs and ‘Big Brother’ – the authoritarian state which watches people’s every move in 1984, the dystopian novel by George Orwell.

Renate Samson, of Big Brother Watch, a campaign group named after this very notion, said: ‘This thing is going to be in your house, listening in on you. Samsung say they are providing you with a service, but really the only service you need from a television is to watch programmes.’

More than half of smart TVs sold in Britain are made by Samsung.

The company says its televisions constantly listen out for simple commands to switch on or change channel, which are interpreted by the machine itself. However, it can only process more complicated requests by recording users’ speech and sending it to a third-party company called Nuance, in the US. That firm then sends the data to a computer server, which translates it into text and sends a response.

To give these complex commands, viewers must press a button on the remote control as they speak, and during that time, anything within ‘earshot’ will be collected. The data is encrypted, but can be listened to by authorised Nuance staff.

The technology giant remained tight-lipped about whether it then keeps users’ data, only saying that it does not sell information on, and that it operates within privacy laws, which vary by country.

Professor Peter Sommer, a digital forensics expert who has lectured at the London School of Economics, said there was ‘no reason’ Samsung would not be storing up data. ‘The fear is they could be building up a pattern of your preferences, or learning your voice,’ he said.

Users can stop Samsung from recording their conversations by turning voice recognition off. However, even then, the firm collects certain information. Its privacy policy says that, if the feature is turned off: ‘While Samsung will not collect your spoken word, Samsung may still collect associated texts and other usage data so that we can evaluate the performance of the feature and improve it.’

Renate Samson slammed Samsung for forcing people to ‘opt out’ of recordings, rather than giving them the option to opt in. ‘It is the wrong way to go about it, and even if you do opt out, you can’t guarantee [your privacy],’ she said.

The Independent quotes Ian Brown, professor of information security and privacy at the Oxford Internet Institute, as saying: "We've been talking for a while about the Internet of Things," referring to the idea that soon, many household items will keep tabs on the home environment. "But it's different when you see it in practice. I can see why people are scared. Thinking that your TV is listening to you is a step up from wearing a Fitbit [a wristband which monitors heart-rate and other bodily functions]."

Besides Samsung, Microsoft, Intel and Google have started to research the television that watches you. In 2012, Verizon sought to patent a media console that could detect who was doing what in a room, and target advertisements accordingly. So, a couple who were cuddling could be shown "a commercial for a romantic getaway vacation, a commercial for contraceptives" etc.

Daily Mail, The Independent

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