Samsung Lied -- Its Smart TV Is Indeed Spying on You

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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If you own one of the newer Samsung smart TV’s, make sure you are on your best behavior when in front of your TV, because someone is listening in on your conversations and it’s Samsung…..only for voice research of course. :rolleyes: The guys at the Daily Beast did a little digging into Samsung’s policies, you know, the ones we never read, and found some interesting facts on their voice research.

But now we're learning that the data which Samsung gleans from its Smart TVs is not encrypted. Ken Munro and David Lodge, from the London-based Pen Test Partners tested one of Samsung’s smart TVs to discover that the TV was uploading audio files in an unencrypted form.
 
I hate it when I'm jacking off to porn on my Smart TV and a multinational conglomerate is listening in.
 
Who is surprised at this point?

Just for good measure should we presume the TVs had Superfish on them?
 
Who is surprised at this point?

Just for good measure should we presume the TVs had Superfish on them?

Not sure what Superfish is, but I imagined "Billy Bass" - that bass fish that sang some country songs when you waived your hand in front of it. Maybe Billy's spying on us too. Say it ain't so, Billy!

In all honesty though - the best course of action with these televisions is simply to not use their smart features (ie - don't connect them to the internet) if you don't want to be tracked. Let your iPhone do that for you. :D
 
Not sure what Superfish is, but I imagined "Billy Bass" - that bass fish that sang some country songs when you waived your hand in front of it. Maybe Billy's spying on us too. Say it ain't so, Billy!

In all honesty though - the best course of action with these televisions is simply to not use their smart features (ie - don't connect them to the internet) if you don't want to be tracked. Let your iPhone do that for you. :D

o_O


You've been living under a rock for the last 5 days?

http://www.slate.com/articles/techn...ne_of_the_worst_consumer_computing_screw.html
 
Dr. Walter Gibbs predicted this in the movie Tron in 1982:
"Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop."

We're there.
 
Gosh! Didn't see that kind of corporate scum bag maneuver.

Good old unrestrained free market capitalism making life better
 
Gosh! Didn't see that kind of corporate scum bag maneuver.

Good old unrestrained free market capitalism making life better

We clearly need less regulation, as corporate cyberstalking of customers is purely the result of too much burdensome regulation.
 
Folks at the NSA are lazy bastards like the rest of us. Give them an easier way to perform mass surveillance, and they'll take it. :p

This does not represent a significant mass surveillance scenario for the NSA, as the TV is only transmitting the context when you say "Hi TV"
 
Never cared fir Samsung tv's, don't really care about this either, but I do love the ability to Skype using the T.V.
 
Not sure what Superfish is, but I imagined "Billy Bass" - that bass fish that sang some country songs when you waived your hand in front of it. Maybe Billy's spying on us too. Say it ain't so, Billy!

In all honesty though - the best course of action with these televisions is simply to not use their smart features (ie - don't connect them to the internet) if you don't want to be tracked. Let your iPhone do that for you. :D
Come on Dave, just give me your wifi password it won't take more than a few seconds. Just give it to me and I'll do the rest. Don't you want to watch your porn Dave? Dave?

9000.si.jpg
 
This does not represent a significant mass surveillance scenario for the NSA, as the TV is only transmitting the context when you say "Hi TV"
Still too much wiggle room. How it's intended to work on the surface and what actually goes on behind the scenes can be quite different.

  • Is "Hi TV" hard-coded? No.
  • Is "Hi TV" not considered a command worth recording, if the point is to analyze commands?
  • Are other phrases ever misheard as "Hi TV"? (Probably yes) How often?
  • How long does the transmission stay open? (Until a known command is registered? Is there a timer?) Is that hard-coded? Probably not.
  • If "Hi TV" is the only trigger, why is mention of "Samsung" recorded?
  • Does the transmission magically filter out background noise? I think not.
  • Can any of Samsung's claims even be trusted at this point? No.

So, yeah.
 
Still too much wiggle room. How it's intended to work on the surface and what actually goes on behind the scenes can be quite different.

  • Is "Hi TV" hard-coded? No.
  • Is "Hi TV" not considered a command worth recording, if the point is to analyze commands?
  • Are other phrases ever misheard as "Hi TV"? (Probably yes) How often?
  • How long does the transmission stay open? (Until a known command is registered? Is there a timer?) Is that hard-coded? Probably not.
  • If "Hi TV" is the only trigger, why is mention of "Samsung" recorded?
  • Does the transmission magically filter out background noise? I think not.
  • Can any of Samsung's claims even be trusted at this point? No.

So, yeah.

Fear doesn't mean we can substitute hyperbole and conjecture in lieu of evidence. So, yeah.
 
How is this such a big news item? "You mean this voice activated electronic device has to listen to my voice just in case I say the keywords so it can do what it needs to? WTF?!!!! This calls for BLACK HELICOPTER MORONIC PRIVACY INVASION CONSPIRACY OUTRAAAAAAGE!!!!"

I'm super-sure Samsung is going to do something nefarious with snippets of recordings of people commanding their TV. Probably use it to take our jobs or make our kids gay. :rolleyes:

I'll have to try to keep myself from reciting the launch codes or detailing all my plans for violent revolution in front of the TV, I guess. That sucks.
 
What's scary is this is probably not really limited to TVs. Probably most devices you buy now days will have these listening devices. It was recently uncovered that hard drives do the same thing too.

I have an older Samsung, so not sure if I'm safe, it is a "smart" TV but one of the earlier ones. It can't do netflix or any of that. Basically it can play stuff off a USB stick, and do DLNA and few other things of that nature. No web browser or anything.

When these spy devices are being embeded into products you kind of have to question everything.

I think we're at a point where it's not even far fetched to build houses like faraday cages so the signals of all these spy bugs can't go out. You'd kinda have not have windows though. :p
 
Happy that the Samsung I recently bought is a "dumb" plasma.
All this data mining crap went way too far looong ago. :mad:
There needs to be a way to opt-out that doesn't equate to returning for a refund.
 
There needs to be a way to opt-out that doesn't equate to returning for a refund.

Get rid of any connection to the Internet you've got and you should be mostly okay as long as you don't know anyone else that uses Internet connected devices in your presence or when thinking or talking about you when you're not around and a device is turned on. :D
 
I hate it when I'm jacking off to porn on my Smart TV and a multinational conglomerate is listening in.

But they have to listen in, how else will they know when to pop up that advertisement for "Specially scented creams designed to enhance your experience?"
 
Now Unencrypted is a problem, and the 1984 spin is so media trying to get a rise to make a interesting article.
And only exists with the Hi tv sets . . if you turn it on and accept the disclaimer on setup..
and most importantly it NEVER sends the voice command information unless you say "HI TV" before your command. This allows the tv to only send commands and NOT everything you are saying.

Seriously people by a fucking clue, this is easily tested and confirmed. So (I will restate) it will not send any information unless you give it that phrase.

Also any side channel problems is hardly a Samsung only issue but a industry wide one.
Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon all have voice-activated products that "spy" on your conversations. and the use of "spy" here is do exactly what they where built to do and offer voice functions to small devices.
and to top it all off there is no boogie man that is listening to your intimate thoughts, and no one cares, your every day life is nothing anyone cares about. (something the average self important person can get there head around)
what IS interesting is financial information. But again having it anonymous rather puts a damper on things. even a credit card number is not useful alone.
There is a potential for misuse and interception. but not any more then most other online information,

the simplest fix they could / should do is give a disclaimer with a description on how it works, with opt in or out, just so the clueless populous understands how the tech works (without the scare quotes)
Or even better just put as default the power on voice command be disabled and have to be manually enabled with disclaimer. This will eliminate the "omgz" is hears me when it is off, hysteria. Keep most all of the voice commands when the set is on. and put some simple encryption on that.

Again this is a industry wide problem of not protecting, even in the most basic way user information, but seriously unless if you SAY "hi tv, This is my credit card info front and back" and you have a mysterious van sitting in front of your house. you are just fine.
 
I've never wanted a smart TV, mostly because I have an HTPC and don't need dumbass smart TVs, but this is just more reason to NOT buy one.
 
I've never wanted a smart TV, mostly because I have an HTPC and don't need dumbass smart TVs, but this is just more reason to NOT buy one.

The don't connect it to your network.... Problem solved.
 
I just bought a new Samsung Smart TV yesterday and I was fiddling around with the voice commands, and it's pretty cool. As far as I can tell, the thing is only listening when I push a button and talk to a remote. Is that not the case?
 
I'm starting to think being a Luddite is the way to go these days.
 
LG already went through this (similar situation). Nothing changed? We have to watch all network traffic in and out of everything now? I've always been a little paranoid and this doesn't help. :eek:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/21/lg-admits-smart-tv-data-collection/

Would something like this even use the regular internet though? I figured it would use a separate private network like cell network or satellites. If it's actually relying on your home network, then you're fine if you don't plug it in to the LAN?
 
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