Warning Over TV Which Listens In On Users !

a reply to: AgentSmith

Getting hysterical? Guess you don't know humor when you read it.

originally posted by: romilo
I do not get it, i mean how the hell that is legal ??
If that is legal then it should be written in the dang box with huge letters, "WE SPY YOU TROUGH THIS TECH", see how many would get that sh1t.
I would be even more furious if i bought samsung and later learnd this new modification in it...

Did you actually read any of the posts? (that's a rhetorical question, because you've already demonstrated your inability to read past the first post in the thread).

Well, don't say or do anything in the presence of your TV. Think of it as your three year old child, a kid that repeats whatever they hear to others that they talk to. No fooling around in your livingroom anymore either, and make sure the TV in your bedroom is unplugged.

a reply to: AgentSmith

Good point about why wouldn't they tell the consumer, but you sound so condescending when you say it that way. The reason I said it though, is because (eek I'm paranoid! haha) I just don't trust big corporations, or the government for that matter, to NOT try to get one up on the average person.

On the other note, I just don't understand why people are so enamored of every new little shiny gadget or awesome app. I know a lot of it is wanting to have what everyone else has, but some people just really like it.

on the bright side the more people subbing to these beliefs that exist the more we can protect privacy and our rights for even a little onger is better then losing everything tomorrow because the quote paranoids think the world is cataouging them..... well it does....just nvm. its good for the Economy and personal rights.

a reply to: ScientificRailgun

haha I chuckled at that... I'm one of those people who put tape over the camera on my laptop! I used electrical tape though, because the black blends in more. I don't care if you laugh at me.

originally posted by: Ellie Sagan
a reply to: ScientificRailgun

haha I chuckled at that... I'm one of those people who put tape over the camera on my laptop! I used electrical tape though, because the black blends in more.

I don't care if you laugh at me.

I won't laugh at anyone who tapes a webcam. If you're not very computer literate you may inadvertently download a piece of malware that would allow someone to view your webcam feed discreetly. Though, most webcams now have an activity light to tell you when it's on.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
a reply to: AgentSmith

Getting hysterical? Guess you don't know humor when you read it.

Maybe you're not hysterical specifically, but a lot of people are over this and it's really nothing. You're Wii comment may be throwaway (and yes I got your humour regarding the gesture), but it was still based on the concept that the Wii spies on you and even if you don't believe it I guarantee there are people out there that think it can watch you through the light bar or something.

Fact is, the Samsung thing is a non-story. Some blog dimwit that hasn't even read the manual has created mass hysteria on Twitter with a cherry picked section of the privacy policy coupled with a lack of understanding of how to operate the TV as a consumer and as usual people are getting their panties in a twist because 'it's the thing to do' right now.

The sad thing is, I expect the Twitter plebs to be like this but I thought ATS was above that. What happened to critical thinking and research? Not just from the OP but everyone that jumped on the bandwagon?

Is it that hard to just read the privacy policy, read the Samsung Smart TV manual (they're all basically the same), and watch an easy to find YouTube video of it in operation?

Apparently not... And frankly if anyone doesn't have a couple minutes spare to check, if it bothers them, then why comment? Because it can't actually bother them if they don't check can it? Or is it just cool to vent some anger and opinions about yet another spoon fed piece of misinformation and join in with the sheeple?

That's all stuff like this proves, the majority of people as whole will always be nothing more than sheeple - the only thing that may vary is the shepherd.

a reply to: AgentSmith

wow that is so cool! and scary

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

Sorry I wasn't aiming to be condescending towards you, I'm literally finding this topic particularly grating because it literally is a shining example of the Twitter generation and the inability to form independent opinions and going with herd mentality.

I can understand it when it's something more complex in any way (technically, philosophically, scientifically, etc), but this really doesn't need more than reading the manual/policy and watching a video to drive in the required info to see that it's all BS. You don't need to understand how it works on a technical level, just how it works as a consumer to see that it doesn't listen to you all the time, only when you make it - presumably because you want to ask it something.

"Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard."

George Orwell 1984

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

Yeah it is! I tried it on an internal window in my house once using a light dependant resistor (the resistance varies depending on how much light shines on it), my laptop and a laser. The LDR and laser were mounted on a bar I put on a tripod. All crude, but it worked. I probably built some sort of pre-amp too maybe, can't remember it was nearly 10 years ago now.
You could record what was being said in the other room just by the demodulation of the laser beam which was varying due to the vibrations off the window it was being bounced on.

As I've said before, I'm sure in a darkened board room there is an evil looking Disney villain maniacally laughing and smoking a cigar at Samsung headquarters. This CEO just can't wait to hear all the intimate details of our exciting lives. Downstairs, in the IT department a crowd of analysts are huddled around a computer, hanging on every word that is uttered in my living room. . . "Is he going to make pizza rolls or a hot pocket? OMG he might make a sandwich instead!"

Even if these TV's listened to me without having to press a button, there wouldn't be anything interesting collected. Let's be real here, the amount of information that is gathered daily is staggering and almost useless for nefarious purposes because of that.

What's so wrong with targeted ads? I hate ads anyway, so the ones I do see might as well be relevant to my likes. Welcome to the future, if the people didn't enjoy the technology it wouldn't exist.

Remember, Rob Lowe says they hide listening devices in our cheese too -- I'm off to look through my Kraft singles...

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Somewhere in a quiet corner of a non-descript building in Fort Meade, Maryland, a man just spit coffee all over his computer monitor.

"Did he just say BOMB?! Guys! Guys!! This is the real deal! Load up! MOVE MOVE MO-oh. He said BONG... NEVERMIND! False Alarm! He's just a stoner!"

a reply to: paraphi

Oddly, it makes data collection for the govt much simpler. Just collect the data that samsung and google are collecting....... Maybe not so "oddly" after all.

originally posted by: AgentSmith
Still find it astonishing that people don't seem to have paid attention to the fact you have to be pushing and holding the 'speak' button for anything to be sent.

And if you're still paranoid then don't connect the TV to the Internet.

And if even then you're still paranoid, go see a shrink - like seriously.

Maybe the article was read. Maybe some realize this as a very possible fisrt toe in the water and work the bugs out so it can be used in a more nefarious way. Some of us over the years have witnessed slow incremental moves that look cool and fun and all harmless to start with but turn out to bite you in the butt later.

Little over 30 years ago when I was in school , even if we would have had these toys , wouldnt have imagined anyone willingly letting someone spy on you. Now that we have had our little gidgets and gadgets for 15-20 yrs we find out everything said or texted or emailed or chatted about is being sucked up by the nanny state and big corp. without so much as telling us about it or even asking our permission.

So , from one of the over fifty gang , please forgive us if we are a bit more skeptical and not so gung-ho happy about cute little tv eavesdropping even if it is in the guise of " See how awesome and helpful this is for you shee- I mean people" while for all you know they will us it in future to do anything and everything you think they wouldnt dare use it for.

I really dont know what happened to our society........guess all the programming must have really worked.

PS: I dont want to or need to talk
to my TV or computer. The
remote is still like magic to me.

a reply to: AgentSmith

Nicely put. Specially the last paragraph.

Starred because I read your response and those couple of others before being removed. I was waiting at the Doctors and laughed out loud. Best laugh all week. Cheers!

As for spying...... They can hear everything I have to say about corporations and Gov, pretty sure they know where I stand. I refuse to have a tv in my lounge or bedroom anyway.

I understand this is just another gimmicky thing with the Samsung but I think it is better to assume we are being watched/monitored somehow because once they have the ability to do it they will use it.

a reply to: weirdguy

originally posted by: AgentSmith
Still find it astonishing that people don't seem to have paid attention to the fact you have to be pushing and holding the 'speak' button for anything to be sent.

And if you're still paranoid then don't connect the TV to the Internet.

And if even then you're still paranoid, go see a shrink - like seriously.

Um

Many Samsung "SmartTVs" come equipped with voice recognition, which allows you to bark commands at your TV. Since the television is always listening for your voice, Samsung has warned its SmartTV customers that every word is being captured and sent over the Internet.
"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," Samsung posted in its SmartTV privacy policy.

money.cnn.com...

I really don't get the big deal, it's not as if most of us are interesting enough for any living human being to be listening in on us live. The information is stored in a data center, with gazillions of terabytes of other information.

The only way I could see this technology being used for nefarious purposes is if you were being targeted, and the information was retroactively searched for/gone back through. Even then it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

There aren't actual human beings assigned to you personally, listening in on your mundane living room conversations.

If you want to talk "big brother" check out the Amazon Echo that has SEVEN scary microphones that are always "on" so to speak, and wakes up to answer your questions when it hears its name. I have one of those and I think it's pretty great.