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Today In Creepy Privacy Policies, Samsung’s Eavesdropping TV
Tech Crunch ^ | 2/8/15

Posted on 02/08/2015 2:43:25 PM PST by Enlightened1

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.

Left: Samsung SmartTV privacy policy, warning users not to discuss personal info in front of their TV Right: 1984

(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: 1984; bigbrother; eavesdropping; privacy; samsung; samsungsmarttv; smarttv
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To: Enlightened1

Only low-techs will be free.


41 posted on 02/08/2015 4:37:31 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: Enlightened1

The irony is delicious. The same people who are upset over samsung “smart” tv’s listening to their conversations ever so willingly let google monitor their whereabouts (location, maps), their friends (contact list), their future appointments and whereabouts (calendar) and preferences (internet searches). But OMG Samsung is listening on the TV.


42 posted on 02/08/2015 5:02:42 PM PST by cyberstoic
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To: Enlightened1

Cue Yakov Smirnoff !


43 posted on 02/08/2015 5:07:12 PM PST by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat Party!)
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To: kitchen

44 posted on 02/08/2015 5:22:00 PM PST by Enlightened1
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To: Enlightened1

Why would they pass it to the feds? And why would the feds want to hear it? They pass it to the software that turns it into text and sends it back to the TV. I don’t like voice activation, I talk to myself and the cats too much, weird things could happen.


45 posted on 02/08/2015 5:38:34 PM PST by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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To: Enlightened1

Like Comcast/NBC, they may just be wanting to stay on the right side of the new internet regulations. Just share everything with the Obama nanny state and the Hillary granny state and they will be rewarded.


46 posted on 02/08/2015 5:43:01 PM PST by Rainier1789 (My Constitution has a 2nd and 10th Amendment)
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To: roadcat

Voice recognition is awesome for movies and TV because they turn it into dialog. In practice though it’s a slow error prone way to interact with things.


47 posted on 02/08/2015 5:44:23 PM PST by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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To: discostu

bump


48 posted on 02/08/2015 6:14:54 PM PST by thinden
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To: FredZarguna
I device you actually talk into all the time -- your phone, if you use Siri or Google voice recognition -- has been doing this for years. Anyone who doesn't realize that speech recognition is sent to servers and doesn't read the privacy policy has only themselves to blame.

On an Apple iPhone or iPad, you have to invoke Siri to have it listen and interpret your voice. It is not listening 24/7 as Samsung's smartTV is apparently listening. Siri only listens when YOU decide you need a specific piece of information and then responds to the question you ask, not to amorphous questions you merely voice while musing in front of the phone. That is not the same thing at all.

There was a post not too long ago on FreeRepublic that indicated that Android phone conversations are being listened to by Google. A freeper commented that he asked his wife what she wanted him to pick up from Wendy's on his way home for lunch. She told him. Not two minutes later a pop-up appeared on his Android phone's screen with a Wendy's Coupon for that very same item. Do you believe in coincidences? I do not. Scary.

49 posted on 02/08/2015 7:47:15 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: SunkenCiv
The TV isn’t eavesdropping, that’s why it’s tinfoilery.

Uh, Sunken? Several articles have come out on this in the past couple of days and the Samsung TV is indeed listening to everything spoken in its presence, sending the voice to remote servers for interpretation to see if the words are commands the TV needs to use for control purposes. However, EVERYTHING spoken in the presence of the TV IS indeed sent to the servers for interpretation. After it leaves your home, who knows what is done with it, is it archived, combed for subversive content, available to authorities for warrantless tapping, etc. This is NOT tinfoillery when they ARE doing it.

This would be entirely different if the TV was listening for a trigger phrase such as "HEY idiot box!" or "Listen Up Samsung!" before sending the next ten or twenty seconds of spoken sound to the servers. . . but they opted for blanket sending of everything. That means that everything is parsed so who knows what other key phrases trigger other actions.

50 posted on 02/08/2015 7:55:42 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: discostu
Well yeah, how do people think voice recognition works? It listens to you CONSTANTLY, learning how you pronounce words so that when you give it a command it can figure it out. Don’t like it, don’t use the feature.

Voice recognition algorithms have improved to the point that software to do voice recognition no longer needs to learn individuals' voice differentials as it did in the past. It can handle dialects, lists, quirks of pronunciation, etc. Once it has the correct language set, there is generally no problem.

51 posted on 02/08/2015 8:00:03 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: jsanders2001
But that could sure be fixed with an online update couldn’t it? Thats not tinfoilery. The fact that the feature can be enabled remotely is not a good idea...i’m sure they’ve never thought of that though.../s

You misunderstand. . . the TV is not smart enough nor does it have enough storage or computing capacity to handle voice recognition on its own. The voices heard are sent to a third party server that has the comparative data bank capacity and processing power to handle voice recognition and send the appropriate response back to the set. One could not download enough data or capacity to the set.

And you are correct, if it is electronic, it certainly could be initiated remotely without your knowledge. Paging Winston Smith. . .

52 posted on 02/08/2015 8:04:17 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: kitchen
Here's an early example:

That's an Interociter from "This Island Earth", a Science Fiction Film. A better example would be this, from George Orwell's "1984"

where the TV not only listened to you, it also watched you, 24/7.

53 posted on 02/08/2015 8:08:56 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: roadcat
I've got voice recognition in my computer. It's an optional feature built into the OS, which you can turn on. But you have to press a key (that you choose) prior to speaking a phrase. It was novel for a couple of weeks but soon became annoying. "Logoff", etc. spoken commands just seemed idiotic after a while. Sort of like "clap on" for turning on lights.

That is a much more sensible implementation of any voice command. . . invoke it's attention with a button push. . . or an on device pass phrase the device is capable of parsing before the server is connected to interpret more complex instructions or requests similar to the way it is handled by Apple with Siri or Microsoft with Cortana.

54 posted on 02/08/2015 8:12:15 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: jsanders2001

Sorry, I misinterpreted your comment. . .


55 posted on 02/08/2015 8:14:07 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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To: miele man

later read


56 posted on 02/08/2015 8:23:41 PM PST by miele man
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To: Swordmaker

> Sorry, I misinterpreted your comment. . .

: )


57 posted on 02/08/2015 8:40:55 PM PST by jsanders2001
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To: Swordmaker

As usual, nothing you have written here is true.


58 posted on 02/08/2015 8:42:12 PM PST by FredZarguna (O, Reason not the need.)
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To: Enlightened1

All is needed is for the Extortion-Care MBS Traffickers to expand and get right onto this, “for health, protection, well-being, for the children.”

Fahrenheit 451, checkmate.


59 posted on 02/08/2015 8:43:53 PM PST by Varsity Flight (Extortion-Care is is the Government Work-Camp: Arbeitsziehungslager)
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To: FredZarguna
As usual, nothing you have written here is true.

Everything I wrote is true. . . What do you have a problem with? Did a Freeper have that experience? He wrote about it. Did Google listen to his Android phone conversation? I don't believe in coincidences. Perhaps the Freeper did not tell the truth; that is a possibility. Everything I wrote about how Siri operates is absolutely true. Ergo, you are blowing smoke, attacking me with ad hominem attacks.

60 posted on 02/08/2015 9:52:21 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users contnue...)
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