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    Samsung reveals potential for smart TVs to eavesdrop

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments657 Views
    Kim Hyun-seok, head of Samsung Electronics' TV business, poses with its SUHD 4K TV during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. (Ahn Young-joon)

    By Youkyung Lee, Technology Writer

    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) --

    Watch what you say in your living room. Samsung's smart TV could be listening. And sharing.

    Voice recognition technology in the South Korean company's Internet connected TVs can capture and transmit nearby conversations.

    The potential for TVs to eavesdrop is revealed in Samsung's smart TV privacy policy available on its website.

    "Please be aware that if your spoken works 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," the policy said.

    For the voice command feature to work, third party software translates speech into text and sends the command back to the TV.

    Users can give commands to the TV's built-in microphone such as "find me an action movie," which causes the TV to search as instructed. As the TV collects voice commands, it also transmits other information as its individual ID.

    Samsung said data collection is aimed at improving TV performance but users can disable it.

    It is not the first time that smart TVs sparked privacy concerns. In 2013, a user revealed that LG Electronics smart TV was sending information about his viewing habits back to the company without consent and without encrypting data.

    LG has also experimented with displaying targeted ads on its smart TVs, which requires collecting and utilizing user data, such as their location, age and gender.

    Tags:Samsung



    Trump taps “Apprentice” producer, Mark Burnett, as special envoy to the U.K.

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Television producer Mark Burnett, left, looks on as President Donald Trump arrives for the National Prayer Breakfast, Feb. 2, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

    Mark Burnett, the power producer who helped reintroduce Donald Trump to a national television audience with "The Apprentice," is being tapped by the president-elect as special envoy to the United Kingdom in his upcoming administration.

    "With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role," Trump announced Saturday.

    Burnett, who was born in London, helped produce hits like "Survivor" and "The Voice," but is perhaps best known for teaming up with Trump for "The Apprentice," which first aired on NBC in 2004.

    Trump had been well-known in real estate and pop culture circles for decades. But the show helped again make him a household name — though Trump severed ties with NBC in 2015, the same year he launched his first White House run.

    The selection of Burnett continues Trump's trend of filling out his incoming administration with people who have high-profile backgrounds in television or politics, or both — including his choice to be defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, a former co-host of "Fox & Friends Weekend," and ex-television doctor and unsuccessful Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz.

    Trump's first campaign in 2016 was rocked by allegations about his conduct on "The Apprentice" and other appearances during his association with NBC, notably in footage in which he said he could sexually assault women and get away with it because he was a "star."

    Almost a decade after he left his reality TV role, Trump's television career remains central to his biography and political rise. The show presented Trump Tower to tens of millions of people as a symbol of power and success before Trump launched his first... Read More

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