Users of Samsung's Smart TV have been warned that the new television set may record their private conversations and transmit them to third parties.
Privacy campaigners have raised concerns about the fine print in the company's privacy policy which refers to the TV's voice recognition software, a feature that allows users to control the television using voice commands.
The clause reads: "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."
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Parker Higgins, an activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation which defends online civil liberties, compared them to the telescreens in George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.
Left: Samsung SmartTV privacy policy, warning users not to discuss personal info in front of their TVRight: 1984 pic.twitter.com/osywjYKV3W — Parker Higgins (@xor) February 8, 2015
"Creepy, tech-fuelled privacy intrusions are rarely detailed as clearly as that. So full marks to Samsung for clarity," writes Natasha Lomas in Tech Crunch. "Albeit, as per usual, these warnings are contained within the most overlooked type of document on the Internet so will easily go unnoticed by the average user."
Samsung responded to the concerns by saying that it "takes consumer privacy very seriously" and employs "industry-standard security safeguards and practices" including data encryption in order to secure customer's personal information, the Daily Beast reports.
The company also pointed out that customers were free to simply deactivate the voice recognition feature and wi-fi if they were concerned. But this comes at a cost, Michael Price points out in Salon. Users who do so won't be able to access all of the TV's high-tech features, leaving consumers with "an unacceptable choice between keeping up with technology and retaining their personal privacy".
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