Add your SmartTV to the list of things spying on you. (They don’t call them smart for nothing).
The intruders, specifically, are Samsung’s line of SmartTVs. The Daily Beast first highlighted a line within the tangle of words that is Samsung’s privacy policy that has alarmed Canadian privacy advocates:
“Please be aware that if your spoken words [used for the TV’s voice recognition command technology] include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.”
It’s unclear who those third parties are, why they need access to your personal conversations, or how this info may be used.
The solution? You can disable voice recognition data collection. The downside: It’s an otherwise great feature and, according to Samsung, “may prevent you from using all of the voice recognition features.”
It may hinder technological home invasion, but something tells us people would probably prefer to use something they paid for.
Canada’s lack of policy on matters of this nature is one of the reasons such a breach is possible in the first place. While the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Europe’s Working Party have enforced stringent data protection laws on technology, Canada is currently toying with its position on the matter. Though Canada does have general ground rules that enforce how companies can use personal data obtained from customers, the “smart electronics revolution [is outpacing] Canada’s laws.”
Welcome to the Internet of Things.
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Cover image from: http://fortifiedminds.com/
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