Get Even More Visitors To Your Blog, Upgrade To A Business Listing >>

Is your TV spying on you?

Recent studies show that the world is now more monitored than ever. Big companies have eyes and ears almost everywhere; in the street, buildings, clubs, banks, libraries and all other places that we frequent. There are approximately 30 million cameras in the United States alone, which record around 40 billion hours of footage weekly!

Chances are, not one day passes without your face showing up with a camera somewhere. While these cameras are mostly for security reasons meant to deter crime, it is now official that we are being watched and listened to in our own homes, through the various gadgets and devices that we own; TV’s included are spying on you.

Smart TV’s

Smart TV’s are smarter than we think, and can be used by hackers to watch and listen to things you say and do and can, therefore, get any information that they would like. But this should not be your greatest worry Vizio smart TV, for instance, has a smart interactive feature that is switched on by default.

This enables the company to watch and listen to your viewing patterns, and then sell that information to marketers who then put two and two together and are able to know which products would interest you. They then launch marketing campaigns targeting you as an individual through your phone or Internet and try to sell you what they think will interest you.

In a statement, Vizio admitted to it, “non-personal identifiable information may be shared with select partners … to permit these companies to make, for example, better-informed decisions regarding content production, programming, and advertising.”

Samsung TV

Vizio is not the only ones Spying on you. According to Samsung, their TV that has a voice prompt feature is actually listening to you. This is how it works; a television watcher feels too lazy to use the remote and opts for the voice recognition feature on the TV. The entire time that features is on, waiting for a voice command, it is listening to the rest of your conversation.

What is recorded, though, we might never know? Samsung has come out strongly to set the record straight and say that they do not pass on the information to any third parties, and the feature can be switched on and off at will.

“Samsung takes consumer privacy very seriously. In all of our Smart TVs, we employ industry-standard security safeguards and practices, including data encryption, to secure customers’ personal information and prevent unauthorized collection or use.” According to a statement from the company.

But what is the real reason they are spying?

Like any good company when asked what the spying features are for, they respond to that they are for the consumers good. But in reality they want to study the consumers’ market reaction. Things like your reaction when a certain advertisement crosses your screen.

Things like where your eyes often dart to when you open a new screen to know exactly where to place the ads. They gather so much information that it is unclear where the line is drawn.

Legalities

It is illegal for a satellite TV company or cable TV provider to sell information about their clients to third parties. But that is as far as that law goes. But there are loopholes because companies like Vizio and Samsung do not fall under that category. That means they can do anything with the information they have recorded, with no legal implications. The only way out is for you to not use the enabled devices.

Technology has brought a lot of good things on TV; clearer sound and HD pictures, curved and flat screen TV’s, but every time you switch on your TV, never forget big brother is watching.



This post first appeared on TechDigg, please read the originial post: here

Share the post

Is your TV spying on you?

×

Subscribe to Techdigg

Get updates delivered right to your inbox!

Thank you for your subscription

×