Users of voice recognition feature on Samsung internet connected SmartTV recently received a huge shock when someone who read the fine print in the privacy policy pointed out that using the aforementioned feature allows the TV manufacturers to record the conversations and even share it with third parties later. It is the voice recognition feature that allows users to command the TV to switch to Netflix, turn on ABC or switch off their television set.
The privacy policy accompanying the smart gadget explicitly states, “If you do not enable Voice Recognition, you will not be able to use interactive voice recognition features, although you may be able to control your TV using certain predefined voice commands. While Samsung will not collect your spoken word, Samsung may still collect associated texts and other usage data so that we can evaluate the performance of the feature and improve it.
The sad and shocking part is that the highly undesirable and debatable feature went unnoticed for quite some time till UK based Parker Huggins read, “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.”
Samsung has now gone on to describe that the recording takes place only when the microphone icon starts showing on the screen but this has given rise to concerns regarding user privacy. Experts are questioning the users having to check the TV screen time and again to make user their device is not recording their conversation.
Not only that, since the gadget allows users to connect to the internet using their TV sets, it also means that “if you use internet banking on my Samsung tellie and speak the password, the Korean company and/or its service providers have a record of you intoning “whatever your password” on a regular basis.
A huge uproar has ensued when Microsoft had announced that Kinect for Xbox One would always be on. The tech giant had ultimately had to remove the Kinect following the outcry associated with it.
“You may disable Voice Recognition data collection at any time by visiting the ‘settings’ menu. However, this may prevent you from using all of the Voice Recognition features,” said the company.
Meaning that those wishing to keep their conversation in front of their TV set private will have to stop using the voice recognition feature.
While you are at it you should probably get rid of your cell phone, computer and car.