Not in Front of the TV

Dave

Dave

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I think this is the best place for this thread. Has anyone noticed this News story today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31296188

Someone on Twitter this morning compared the warnings in the instruction manual for the Samsung to a page from George Orwell's 1984. The similarity was extraordinary. Just another item from that book that is now true.

Edit: Okay, I see everyone is making a connection now:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/02/09/samsung-smart-tv-privacy-1984_n_6642934.html?1423471251
 
I'm considering a Samsung TV at the moment and have been reading the Consumers Association (Which?) reports on the thing. Apparently it shares viewing preferences and all sorts of info with Samsung, but I didn't realise about the voice commands. Fortunately the feature can be turned off - and it will be.
 
mosaix said:
I'm considering a Samsung TV at the moment and have been reading the Consumers Association (Which?) reports on the thing. Apparently it shares viewing preferences and all sorts of info with Samsung, but I didn't realise about the voice commands. Fortunately the feature can be turned off - and it will be.
Click to expand...
They say it can be turned off, but can it? :)
 
There was also a story yesterday on the news about the possibilities of hacking new vehicles; it will be (or is already) possible to take total control of a vehicle and make it stop, unlock the doors, and so on. Someone said something about "hacking into my car, my refrigerator...."

If you have to worry about your refrigerator being hacked, you have too much money. Do not hook your refrigerator up to the internet. Problem solved.

Not so much for the car and the TV, though. Those are becoming largely unavoidable.
 
Brian, I thought the exact same thing.

It's vaguely monstrous the way some technology is going. A few nights ago the BBC had a report in which the journalist extolled the virtues of people being chipped for a business. It's bloody creepy, and increasingly intrusive.
 
I have a Samsung, but have never used (or, to the best of my knowledge, switched on) the voice control. God knows what they'll make of my attempts to bring dialogue to life**.


** - 'Cause that's what they'll hear, nothing else, honest....
 
mosaix said:
Fortunately the feature can be turned off - and it will be.
Click to expand...
no, it just stops responding. Hacker can still listen and voice can still be recorded. Destroy the microphone. OR Never connect a TV to Internet. Use a netbook / laptop / phone with HDMI cable.
Before this there are multiple vulnerabilities.
Forget the Internet of things, they'll never get the security right. You'll open the fridge and find it full of cockroaches.
 
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