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The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

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Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#31
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote doesn't show Samsung's thoughts on the risk of hacking at all, and it shouldn't remind anyone of 1984. It's just a statement of how all voice recognition currently works.

>It's just a statement of how all voice recognition currently works. Amazon has said on numerous occasions that no data transfer occurs without a trigger word hitting the mic -- a feature that was a main point when discussing the safety of having an always-on internet-connected mic in the house. As for whether or not they're telling the truth, I don't know; but trigger-words have always been a feature that Amazon lov…

Also see this Amazon patent related to intentionally removing PII from speech transmitted to the cloud.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=H...

In case the link doesn't work, it's US Patent 9922646.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#32

Aside from wanting to protect its citizens from foreign spying; I have to wonder if another reason for the US's curtailing Huawei is to simply eliminate the competition?

People with technical knowledge at this point shouldn't doubt this perspective anymore. No evidence of wrong doing was published, and the claim of the possibility of the Chinese government making Huawei do their bidding at some point, is no different from what other governments have been doing, including the U.S. (and getting caught in the wrong doing).

There's no shame in the hypocresy. It's a blatant attempt to damage Huawei.

I have no sympathy for what the Chinese government does to subdue everyone under their power, but the Americans seem to have been historically better at playing the victim and getting away with it while still managing to curtail on others.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#33
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote doesn't show Samsung's thoughts on the risk of hacking at all, and it shouldn't remind anyone of 1984. It's just a statement of how all voice recognition currently works.

>It's just a statement of how all voice recognition currently works. Amazon has said on numerous occasions that no data transfer occurs without a trigger word hitting the mic -- a feature that was a main point when discussing the safety of having an always-on internet-connected mic in the house. As for whether or not they're telling the truth, I don't know; but trigger-words have always been a feature that Amazon lov…

I’ve heard that the Echo’s mute button is a hardware off switch for the mic, though for obvious reasons you probably wouldn’t leave it on most of the time.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#35

The CIA should be completely abolished. Unlike the FBI, it does not seek to enforce any laws whatsoever; instead, they operate with absolutely zero oversight, there only rule being that they're not supposed to be involved in domestic matters. I wouldn't be surprised if they tag-team with other friendly agencies like MI6 to spy on each other's domestic targets so as not to violate that rule.

> they operate with absolutely zero oversight

There is extensive oversight of the CIA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Com...

> there[sic] only rule being that they're not supposed to be involved in domestic matters

There are extensive rules, law, regulations, and executive orders governing the CIA. Many are listed or referenced in this document.

https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/privacy-and-civil-liberties/CI...

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#36
post #31
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's just a statement of how all voice recognition currently works. Amazon has said on numerous occasions that no data transfer occurs without a trigger word hitting the mic -- a feature that was a main point when discussing the safety of having an always-on internet-connected mic in the house. As for whether or not they're telling the truth, I don't know; but trigger-words have always been a feature that Amazon lov…

Also see this Amazon patent related to intentionally removing PII from speech transmitted to the cloud. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=H... In case the link doesn't work, it's US Patent 9922646.

Did you link the right patent? That claim is only for locating a user in a room based on multi-room voice input.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#39
post #3

'Samsung itself is aware of these risks. In its privacy policy, the company warned customers to 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 through your use of Voice Recognition." The language reminded some of the George Orwell classic dystopian novel 1984.'

That quote doesn't show Samsung's thoughts on the risk of hacking at all, and it shouldn't remind anyone of 1984. It's just a statement of how all voice recognition currently works.

iOS can do voice recognition processing entirely locally for many languages. I’m sure the same is true for Android.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#40
This piece challenges the current narrative you read in the press. China is an evil surveillance state that spies on its citizens and the rest of the world.

Now we know. The greatest democracy of the world also spies on its citizen and the rest of the world.

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