ANALYSIS - Samsungs Smart TV Privacy Policy
[WHAT]
- ] Samsungs 46 page privacy policy for their Samsungs Smart TV's has/is coming under increasing scrutiny,
[WHY]
- ] because its egregious
[WHY NOT]
- ] I dont care, I am not doing anything wrong, so what if someone captures my data?
[WHERE]
- ] Samsung Privacy Policy
- ] https://www.samsung.com/uk/info/privacy-SmartTV.html
[WHEN]
- [2014-10-31] I'm Terrified of My New TV: Why I'm Scared to Turn This Thing On an article by Michael Price
- ] http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/im-terrified-my-new-tv-why-im-scared-turn-thing
- [2014-11-dd] my g+ post
- ] *Terrified of my new TV* - Interesting article about what information your new smart TV may be sending up into the manufacturers "cloud" , NOT that it's not all clearly spelled out in the *47 page Terms of service* agreement.
- * should be 47 page Privacy Policy, NOT TOS agreement
- [2015-02-08] hacker news - someone posted a link to their privacy policy
- ] https://www.samsung.com/uk/info/privacy-SmartTV.html - by tschemo -
- ] hn comments (##) - see section Comment Mine below for selected
- [2015-02-08] reddit.com users found out, torqued the headlines a bit,
- ] http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/2uuvdz/samsung_smarttv_privacy_policy_please_be_aware/
- ] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/09/samsung_listens_in_to_everything_you_say_to_your_smart_tellie/
- ] comments - http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/2v9x5u/samsung_listens_in_to_everything_you_say_to_your/
- ] http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/2v8myz/samsung_our_smart_tvs_record_your_living_room/
- [2015-02-09] more
- ] TNT - 2015-02-09 mentions the story, also refers to previous privacy issues detected with LG TV's
- ] local news - airs story
- [2015-02-11] TNT [20:45] UPDATE Samsung Smart TV privacy policy w/Stan Schroeder european editor @mashable.com
- ] some Samsung TV owners are reporting seeing "pepsi ads" that are being inserted directly into the users content when watch
- ] the ad is a muted 50 second pepsi ad
- ] the USER who reported it was watching his own content, not streaming, the ads appeared only while watching the content on his Samsung TV, not on other devices
- ] then australian cable TV subscribers of foxtel cable, users saw similar ads,
- ] samsung australia released a statement - these ads were just "an error", they are "not planning" to continue in the future
- ] but it is proof of Samsung capability THAT they can Inject your own personal content with ads
- ] users are terrified of this idea, consumers are NOT used to seeing ads delivered by the device, not by the content
- ] Samsungs smart tv also has the capablity to listen to "anything you say in front of the TV, which then can be relayed to third parties"
- ] ultimately its an issue of trust,
- "] ME - appreciates "dumb TV's",
- "] LU - likes smart TVs but Samsung has to be careful with their "wording" and their "coding"
- ] Samsung's smart TVs are inserting unwanted ads into users' own movies
- ] hackernews discussion
[EXAMPLE - auto summary of Michael Price Article]
- The amount of data this thing collects is staggering.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Users may have the ability to disable data collection, but it comes at a cost.
- Companies need to become more mindful of consumer privacy when deciding whether to collect personal data.
[HOW-TO]
- ]
[REFERENCE]
- ]
comment mine
imgabe
Animats
"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."
"Your SmartTV is equipped with a camera that enables certain advanced features, including the ability to control and interact with your TV with gestures and to use facial recognition technology to authenticate your Samsung Account on your TV."
We've come so far since Orwell's "telescreen" in "1984".
"Big Brother is watching YOU."
Given that voice recognition is possible offline on a RaspberryPi Version 1 [1] I'm wonderung why they have to send the recorded audio to the cloud in the first place.
[1] https://jasperproject.github.io/
This business practice of hiding secret drawbacks in Terms of Service need be sent to the courts and stopped. In the history of contact law, the practice has come, been outlawed, reinvented, been outlawed again, and repeated with new schemes every 10-20 year or so. Last time it was Hidden fees and surcharges, before that, incomplete prices and hidden costs. The law adapted and with it business practices, but the lure of addition revenue after sale are still going strong.
So instead of hiding costs in contracts, companies now simply takes control of the property they have sold. Same attack vector, same intent as before, and contract law is lagging behind as usually. It is extremely doubtful that this kind of TOS is legal, and without the TOS, Samsung is commercially invading peoples private property. They are not allowed to plant advertisement signs on land they don't own, and a TOS which no one reads or understand should not change that fact.
