Train your cat to sit in front of the TV WHEN YOUR NOT HOME
Posted on 11/05/2014 1:52:52 PM PST by Lorianne
I just bought a new TV. The old one had a good run, but after the volume got stuck on 63, I decided it was time to replace it. I am now the owner of a new “smart” TV, which promises to deliver streaming multimedia content, games, apps, social media, and Internet browsing. Oh, and TV too.
The only problem is that I’m now afraid to use it. You would be too — if you read through the 46-page privacy policy.
The amount of data this thing collects is staggering. It logs where, when, how, and for how long you use the TV. It sets tracking cookies and beacons designed to detect “when you have viewed particular content or a particular email message.” It records “the apps you use, the websites you visit, and how you interact with content.” It ignores “do-not-track” requests as a considered matter of policy.
It also has a built-in camera — with facial recognition. The purpose is to provide “gesture control” for the TV and enable you to log in to a personalized account using your face. On the upside, the images are saved on the TV instead of uploaded to a corporate server. On the downside, the Internet connection makes the whole TV vulnerable to hackers who have demonstrated the ability to take complete control of the machine.
More troubling is the microphone. The TV boasts a “voice recognition” feature that allows viewers to control the screen with voice commands. But the service comes with a rather ominous warning: “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.” Got that? Don’t say personal or sensitive stuff in front of the TV.
You may not be watching, but the telescreen is listening.
I do not doubt that this data is important to providing customized content and convenience, but it is also incredibly personal, constitutionally protected information that should not be for sale to advertisers and should require a warrant for law enforcement to access.
Unfortunately, current law affords little privacy protection to so-called “third party records,” including email, telephone records, and data stored in “the cloud.” Much of the data captured and transmitted by my new TV would likely fall into this category. Although one federal court of appeals has found this rule unconstitutional with respect to email, the principle remains a bedrock of modern electronic surveillance.
According to retired General David Petraeus, former head of the CIA, Internet-enabled “smart” devices can be exploited to reveal a wealth of personal data. “Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvester,” he reportedly told a venture capital firm in 2012. “We’ll spy on you through your dishwasher” read one headline. Indeed, as the “Internet of Things” matures, household appliances and physical objects will become more networked. Your ceiling lights, thermostat, and washing machine — even your socks — may be wired to interact online. The FBI will not have to bug your living room; you will do it yourself.
Of course, there is always the “dumb” option. Users may have the ability to disable data collection, but it comes at a cost. The device will not function properly or allow the use of its high-tech features. This leaves consumers with an unacceptable choice between keeping up with technology and retaining their personal privacy.
We should not have to channel surf worried that the TV is recording our behavior for the benefit of advertisers and police. Companies need to become more mindful of consumer privacy when deciding whether to collect personal data. And law enforcement should most certainly be required to get a warrant before accessing it.
In the meantime, I’ll be in the market for a new tinfoil hat and cone of silence.
Michael Price is counsel in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.
In Soviet Russia, television watches you.
Sooooo... don’t connect it to your wireless or wired network. Good luck getting info out of it remotely then.
BookMark
1. Why did you buy it? And
2. Why are you connecting it to the internet?
One of the main points of a smart tv is to watch streaming video online.
I just put a piece of tape over the camera on my desktop.
I guess if someone took over my computer they would hear me humming and singing. But they would not see me in my pajamas.
There’s no way in hell I would put one of these things in my house.
Uh...or so I've been told.
Only thing that scares me about my smartTV is how much it talks to my bluray. It’ll turn the bluray on when I navigate to the correct input, it pauses the bluray if I navigate away, and unpauses when I go back. Kind of creepy. His complaints are silly how does he expect the high tech features to work without the “bad”? You can’t really do gesture control without a camera and some level of personal recognition. You can’t create a list of favorite apps and websites without storing the info. You can’t store logins without cookies in some form. Wanting those features without the “tracking” is like demanding locks without keys, just not gonna happen.
That’s the beauty of being a FReeper.
You know you’re at the top of the regime’s list so you never have to worry about stuff like this.
1984 - Orwell; “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”
Yes.
They will make this a selling point because having the camera at the center of the screen will make it easier for them to track your facial expressions and change channels if your face suggests you are upset at what you are seeing.
And loads and loads of people will buy it BECAUSE of the integrated camera.
1984 - my first thought...
Just make sure you’re “around the corner” - if you’re engaging in any subversive activities.
We bought a Visio smart tv from Sam’s Club, brought it home, set it up, turned it on...and it lasted about 10 minutes before locking up. The remote did nothing, neither did the minimal manual controls on the set itself. The only way to turn it off was to unplug it.
Took it back and swapped out for a new one. Same thing happened except didn’t even get 10 minutes.
Took it back, got another one. The exasperated salesman said I probably needed to set something differently in our house router (file sharing something or other. I did that. Lasted for about a half hour this time. Locked up again.
Took the Visio Smart TV back, swapped out for a Samsung Stupid TV...works just fine.
I have an un smart TV so my wife can use it.
Yup. The $6.00 TV I bought at a yard sale does everything I need done in that area.
I have a satellite receiver and Roku hooked to it.
My laptop computer is another story. I don't know what it's doing. I did put alum tape on the camera though.
Train your cat to sit in front of the TV WHEN YOUR NOT HOME
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