Samsung's spokeswoman continued: " Should consumers enable the voice recognition capability, the voice data consists of TV commands, or search sentences, only. In all of our Smart TVs we employ industry-standard security safeguards and practices, including data encryption, to secure consumers' personal information and prevent unauthorized collection or use."īut what might be authorized and by whom? (I would have just shouted at my SmartTV to get comment, but it isn't a Samsung.)Ī Samsung spokeswoman told me: "Samsung takes consumer privacy very seriously. So much so that I have contacted Samsung to ask how broad this policy might be and what third parties might be informed of your personal conversations. We are NOT having your mother here this weekend, next weekend or ANY weekend! However, the following words border on the numbing: "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." It's a little like every single customer service call, supposedly recorded to make your next customer service call far, far more enjoyable. The wording, first spotted by the Daily Beast, first informs you that the company may "capture voice commands and associated texts so that we can provide you with Voice Recognition features and evaluate and improve the features."
It concerns the voice-recognition feature, vital for everyone who finds pressing a few buttons on their remote far too tiresome. (Samsung's motto: TV has never been this smart.) That seems to be the conclusion from reading the privacy small print offered by the company. It's your big Samsung TV that's watching you. You see, this is progress in intelligence. Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.