
Samsung warns customers that Smart TVs are always listening (2015) - mattnumbe
http://theweek.com/speedreads/538379/samsung-warns-customers-not-discuss-personal-information-front-smart-tvs
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skocznymroczny
That's why I bought myself a dumb TV, and added smart features using a
Raspberry Pi connected to it by HDMI. The TV has no internet connection
available.

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jafingi
You could just buy a smart tv and don't connect it to the internet. And have a
Raspberry Pi on it. That way you can control everything yourself.

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theprotocol
If we're to think of this from an economist's perspective, then you would want
to get an equivalent television without the voice command feature, and it
would be cheaper.

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Daviey
When many smart tv's display adverts and commercial apps, you could argue that
the smart feature is subsidising the TV.

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theprotocol
Good point.

The point I was trying to make was that from a market efficiency perspective,
this kind of thing should not be a problem.

So it might be more expensive to remove the feature altogether, including the
advertising revenue it would generate. Such is the cost of privacy,
apparently.

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phyushin
Why would you need voice search in a TV though... I can't understand ... I
don't understand which everyone is going nuts for IOT either!? Why do I want a
web browser on my fridge really

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mattnumbe
To be honest, I really can't wait until my fridge tells me that I'm out of
eggs. I hate going to the supermarket and forgetting what's in there.

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flushandforget
It's an odd problem. My partner insists on keeping a shopping list. But mostly
I remember what we have in the fridge and store cupboard, as I frequently
cook. I don't actually forget that many items when shopping. Toothpaste I
don't keep in the fridge. Being able to have a quick glance remotely could
help, but I'd probably then abandon trying to remember, and it would probably
take me longer. My partner recently tried a little stretch of buying online
and collecting from the store. But for me, it took all the fun out of
shopping. I actually enjoy strutting the supermarket - and some domestic
tasks. My partner likes certainty. I like mixing things up a little.

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GTP
But Samsung said that it only happens when you issue a vocal command, not that
the TV is always listening. I have a Samsung smart TV and you have to press a
button to use a voice command so it may not always listen to you as is stated
in the article. And they share the information to a third part not to sell it
but for the voice recognition task.

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BrandonMarc
The word "telescreen" comes to mind.

Then again, cell phones are more ubiquitous and close at hand, and are also
always listening ...

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basicplus2
The only answer is to disassemble every new TV, and disconnect the microphones
and cameras.

Perhaps I can make a business out of this service.

~~~
msh
Why not just spend your money on a TV without mic and camera? My lg smart tv
have neither.

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basicplus2
I presume sometime in the not too distant future, all TV's will have cameras
and mics.

~~~
nf05papsjfVbc
I noticed that TVs nowadays come with an HDMI connector for their video (and
audio) input. Could a computer monitor with speakers serve in place of the TV?

I suppose that leaves the problem of not having a remote control for the 'TV'.
However, if the inputs are from a cable-tv box or a media-box, they should
have their own remote controls anyway.

Is there some simple reason to avoid doing this, which I overlook because of
my ignorance?

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petters
> Is there some simple reason to avoid doing this

50"\+ computer monitors are rare (at least where I live).

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kaybe
Go for a projector then, that works pretty well for us.

Old games filling the whole wall is pretty jarring at first, but surprisingly
you also get used to that.

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patrickk
Projectors have gotten _much_ cheaper in the past few years (I used to look in
awe at some of the incredible creations on the now-defunct lumenlabs forum at
the DIY creations people would build because of the high projector cost back
about 10 years ago). You can buy a very capable 1080p projector for €450-500
or so. You can build a high quality DIY screen if you're so inclined too. It's
a bitch to setup, and you have to hide the power and HDMI cables somehow, but
the experience is unbeatable.

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bonjurkes
Looks like there is a small difference as voice search and voice activation.

I own smart tv (Sony) that has microphone on the remote which you can only use
at Youtube search bar (then light lit on the remote when microphone is
active), and I believe it's quite nifty as typing via remote is PITA.

On the other hand I don't know voice activation features on smart TVs. Do you
tell your TV to "turn on" or "change channel", which is not practical IMHO.

It makes sense that personal assistants (amazon echo, apple siri, google
whatever) listen all the time as you use trigger words to activate them but
it's so useless for TVs.

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mattnumbe
Looks like Vizio got fined for doing something similar recently.
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-
switch/wp/2017/02/06...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-
switch/wp/2017/02/06/these-smart-tvs-were-apparently-spying-on-their-
owners/?utm_term=.240cc62be8b2)

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wassago
This is really old news, and actually, the text in the link was pretty much
inspired by the one from Huffington Post from 2015 -
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/09/your-samsung-tv-
is-...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/09/your-samsung-tv-is-spying-on-
you_n_6647762.html)

~~~
wuschel
I agree that it is old news. Orwell's "1984" with its scary concepts of mass
control and indoctrination is even older. Whenever I read about those TVs I
have to think about how dehumanizing the outcome of the dystopian story was,
and how we slowly - but decisively - move into the accepting such privacy and
rights intrusions.

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warrenmiller
This is from 2015

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jeron
well yes, the year is in the title of the post.

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mattnumbe
I added it after...

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Markoff
i don't mind cameras, you can just stick tape over them (until they will be
build behind the display which will take few more years), microphones are
worse, is there some easy way how to disable or mute them without
disassembling TV and voiding warranty?

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gcb0
> up votes

> has an apple tv

it is the same thing.

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bamboozled
Don't own a TV, especially a Samsung, fixed...

