Samsung’s Warning: Our Smart TVs Record Your Living Room Chatter

samsmartBy Chris Matyszczyk

Samsung’s small print says that its Smart TV’s voice recognition system will not only capture your private conversations, but also pass them onto third parties.

Why worry about Big Brother?

It’s your big Samsung TV that’s watching you. Oh, and listening to you.

That seems to be the conclusion from reading the privacy small print offered by the company. (Samsung’s motto: TV has never been this smart.)

It concerns the voice-recognition feature, vital for everyone who finds pressing a few buttons on their remote far too tiresome.

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.”

This is almost understandable. It’s a little like every single customer service call, supposedly recorded to make your next customer service call far, far more enjoyable.

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.”

The possibilities curdle in the mind. 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. (I would have just shouted at my SmartTV to get comment, but it isn’t a Samsung.)

Learn more: https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-record-your-living-room-chatter/