I take security and privacy issues seriously, but sometimes I despair when news stories such as that regarding Samsung TVs eavesdropping on private conversation explode across the media as happened last week. The reason for my despondency has less to do with the data privacy debate and more to do with the human stupidity one. That said, let's get the technical bit out of the way first.
The privacy scare story kicked off after someone, eventually, noticed that privacy policy relating to Samsung smart TVs included the line: "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 through your use of Voice Recognition." This triggered a veritable tsunami of panic amongst the apparently easily panicked that their inane ramblings with the dog were being recorded by 'someone' and this data could somehow then be used to their detriment. Some particularly dense blowhards even made the connection between this statement and the Edward Snowden revelations, concluding that TVs were being used by The Powers That Be in the war against terror. I can only assume they were wearing tinfoil gloves as they typed their concerns across social media channels.
Here's the thing though, if you've bought a 'smart' television do you actually think it is a self-contained intelligent organism? How do you think it figures out what you are searching for when you use the voice search function, and returns recommendations for stuff you might like to watch? It's not done by magic, it's done by technology. Your voice commands are heard by a microphone in the remote control unit, and in the case of simple functional commands are dealt with in situ by the TV. However, more complex interactions such as searching for programs to watch or asking for recommendations involve a process of data analysis via a remote server across the Internet. These certain interactive voice commands are only collected and sent to that server, operated by Nuance Communications in the US which makes speech recognition software, when the relevant voice button is pressed on the remote. Nuance translates the voice commands into text, text which enables the command request to be fulfilled. Like pretty much all speech recognition software, your spoken commands will be collected and analysed in order to improve performance - just as your smartphone or tablet will do. This is NOT the same as your telly monitoring your private conversations, so get over it and move on.
Could Samsung have done a better job with the privacy policy wording? Sure. Could it have designed a better method of letting users know exactly when the TV is recording and/or transmitting voice data other than just the microphone icon on screen and make switching this off easier? Ditto. Could humans be less stupid about all this stuff? Jeez I'd like to think so. Look, if you are truly worried about all this then there is a very simple and bulletproof solution: stop talking to your TV. Seriously. What's so damn hard about pressing a button on your remote? I'm not meaning to sound glib here, and there is a serious point to be made, namely that in exchange for functionality and ease of use we are continually sacrificing privacy. Social media usage is the best example of this, quickly followed by the Internet of Things. How much privacy we are prepared to sacrifice is the issue, and in return for how much functionality? Taking the tinfoil hat approach to tech is not the answer, nor is handing over our data without any real thought. There has to be a balance somewhere, and there needs to be a conversation. Simply yelling at Samsung over what is, truth be told, something of a non-story does nothing to move that debate forward...