1984, 30 years later.
I'm surprised I had to scroll down this far for a 1984 reference, because it is EXACTLY what 1984 was about.
I’m Terrified of My New TV
241–250 of 346 posts
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
Genuine question, that makes all the difference in the world for me: Does the TV require me to push a button to activate the voice commands?
There is a button on the remote to activate voice.
"There is a button on the remote to activate voice."
More likely: There is a button on the remote to make users believe they have the ability to disable voice data relay to someone's remote servers.
What are the chances such TVs will have network controlled power-up capability? You only think you turned it off.
It's funny that people seem to be accepting always-on GSM network connectivity of the electronics in control of their cars, but oh my god, not the TV!
The TV can't drive you at 100MPH into a palm tree on remote command.
Just to be clear, I think 'smart TVs with network connected microphones' is a completely insane idea. Another on a long list of hanging offenses.
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#243Perhaps we can all just start being someone else. Make up a few aliases and use those for different accounts. Some mass schizophrenia might really do wonders. We could make it a "thing" with young people and a rally cry for the disenfranchised. We could even get grandma in on the act in the name of "online security".
> Some mass schizophrenia might really do wonders.
Quote of the day.
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#244So what happens if you just don't plug in the network cable or setup WiFi? How does it gather anything?
Well then it doesn't let you watch it, obviously.
Combining two wikipedia articles,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_...
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_...
there are 87 million broadband subscriptions (likely shared) vs 117 million households. So thats at least 30 million permanently un-TVed households. Which would probably be good for the nation.
My mother in law got a smart TV about three years ago. No internet access for her. At the time I couldn't figure it out, but it makes more sense now.
One interesting problem is there are a lot of TV models out there and none of the software will ever be upgraded in practice, its like Android phones, its unlikely it'll ever be upgraded from what it shipped with. Its likely the "smart" features of her TV are already unusable due to API changes over the years.
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
> We can't leave it up to ignorant and fickle consumers. People like you infuriate me to no end. The fact is that a lot of consumers are willing to trade privacy for convenience, price, etc. Privacy just doesn't weigh much in those people's list of priorities. I'm glad we still have a semblance of free market capitalism because if people like you had their way, a lot of modern technologies simply wouldn't exist. That…
So if the invisible hand of the market "chooses" to create an Orwellian total surveillance society, that will be OK, because hey, consumers chose it.
First, what comes closest to Orwellian total surveillance today is the NSA mass surveillance program which was created by government, not the free market.
Second, I wouldn't personally feel OK with that outcome but I would also recognize that most people do (given your premise) and that I have no authority over their personal choices.
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google led me to Samsung. Under the "Voice Recognition" section [1] Voice Recognition You can control your SmartTV, and use many of its features, with voice commands. If you enable Voice Recognition, you can interact with your Smart TV using your voice. To provide you the Voice Recognition feature, some voice commands may be transmitted (along with information about your device, including device identifiers) to a thi…
Isn't that exactly how Google's voice recognition works? And Siri's too I assume? Your phone doesn't have the processing power to do speech-to-text on the fly, so it sends it to a server to do it. I don't see a vast government conspiracy behind this. If they can make the TV a bit cheaper by putting in a less powerful processor and taking advantage of the always present high speed Internet connection, of course they w…
Yes, phones do this too. But the massive difference is that you have to consciously bring up Siri and you know when it's listening and when it's not. The TV appears to be constantly listening for audio commands and is sending whatever it hears upstream for processing. Someone in these comments said that you can turn the TV on through a voice command, which means that it is listening even when it is off and merely plugged in.
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#247Wow, I'd be scared too. Like Mr. Finch used to say, “only the paranoid survive”.
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#248I'm probably not normal, but frankly I would just leave it unplugged from the Internet. At the end of the day my current tv does what I need to do (ie act as a big monitor) without an internet connection. Given the number of devices already floating around here for browsing the web, I don't really need my tv to do that. For streaming I have Chromecast or whatever. I get that tv makers want to sell me something, but t…
I think you are the rule, not the exception. Most people won't bother connecting their TV to the Internet, if for no other reason than it's a huge hassle. Ever tried to type a WiFi password with a remote? But if TVs start phoning home on their own terms, without my WiFi password or Ethernet cable, then it becomes terrifying.
Just curious, how could they do this? Is there a reasonable possibility of integrating a cell antenna into a TV? I find that implausible...
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. Government needs to have laws against this. We can't leave it up to ignorant and fickle consumers. This is a failure of the system of law, thus government. Consumer action is no substitute. Voting with wallets is not equal in anyway to voting. And never should be. We shouldn't be trying to herd consumers to punish companies, we should be asking governments to do their job.
I don't really agree – I'm very nervous about the idea of government banning technologies. If I want to provide a real-time audio feed from my home to Samsung, then that is my choice to make. If government is to do anything here, it's to make sure that there's a minimum standard of notification which is required for these devices. Maybe something like an explicit opt-in for any feature which transmits data to third p…
Yeah sure I agree. But this is a problem. Pretending like it isn't is basically cognitive dissonance. Why? These companies consistently refuse to secure their sevices to maximize profit.
The problem is they live in a completely self centered world where profit must be maximized. This is why this results in less secure devices by design. This is why you need regulation.
You leave it to the companies, they will almost always decide based on profit. Even if it results in a totally insecure product. See:http://iss.oy.ne.ro/Aether
Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV
#250I think the always watching/listening thing is the major hurdle a lot of these devices are going to have to overcome before a lot of people feel comfortable inviting them into their homes.
Unfortunately a lot of people are not going to read the privacy policies or even care about what their TV is doing beyond "it works" and being drawn in by the promise of convenience and new features... it's to the advantage of the companies doing this that their users remain as complacent and unknowing as possible. This isn't even the government forcing mass-surveillance devices on its citizens; it's the citizens acc…
Well. . . . What if we find the attack vectors, notify the companies then when they dont remotely patch(or cant/ignore as i assume is the most plausable option), publicly release.
I have a "smart" tv my wifw purchased while i was away on business, but theres no way thats being connected.