New Samsung TV Watches You Watching It 320
CanHasDIY writes "Straight out of 1984, Samsung has unveiled a new series of televisions with integrated cameras and microphones, complete with facial and voice recognition software. Best of all, there appears to be no physical indication of the mic and camera's status, so consumers have no way of knowing when they're being monitored, or by whom... and if you don't find the idea of a TV that watches you creepy enough, apparently Samsung's Terms of Service include a clause allowing third-party apps to make use of the monitoring system, and use the data gathered for their own purposes. Nothing Orwellian about that..."
Reminds me of those School Laptops (Score:5, Informative)
.....which were provided to Pennsylvanian teens, and had integrated cameras, but there was no indication to the users that they were being recorded in their bedrooms (by the government).
Re:What is the difference between this and xbox? (Score:5, Informative)
Best of all, there appears to be no physical indication of the mic and camera's status, so consumers have no way of knowing when they're being monitored, or by whom... and if you don't find the idea of a TV that watches you creepy enough, apparently Samsung's Terms of Service include a clause allowing third-party apps to make use of the monitoring system, and use the data gathered for their own purposes.
Did you somehow manage to miss that part of the summary? It's only most of the summary, after all. In short, there's plenty to see here, only it's third parties doing the seeing, and you apparently don't get any say in when they do the seeing, or what they use the footage for.
Re:Soviet Russia jokes overload (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Omnipresent Surveillance (Score:5, Informative)
Oh hush. It's very easy.
50 cent roll of electrical tape. Cut a 3x3cm square using scissors. Place it over the camera aperature.
1$ bottle of superglue. The watery runny kind that whicks up into paper, and has a long neck applicator. Lay the television temporarily on a soft, cushioned surface face up, say, on the sofa. Into the microphone grill, gently dribble the runny superglue. Leave in this position for 2 to 3 hours for maximal cone set. Return television to the entertainment center, and feel marginally safer.
The first one is obvious how it works, but the second helps prevent the vibrational movement of the microphone pickup, greatly reducing its sensitivity. Sufficiently glued so that the cone can't move the coil, or the piezo crystal can't be flexed, and you have basically neutered it without opening the system unit.
These little steps are not hard at all. The hard part is staunchly refusing to buy such an intrusive Little whore of a gadget in the first place, as the powers that be all try like mad to get you to swallow that shit pill, and telescreen sensors become standard features.
Shit like this is why I refuse to buy stuff like the kinect. While you can unplug the ethernet cable on your console to ensure the thought police and social services don't see you spanking junior on candid camera, (with audio and motion tracking!), the act of buying an obvious spying device and installing it in your home tells fucked up marketing assholes that you want MOAR spying. I don't want to send that message.
Re:Reminds me of those School Laptops (Score:5, Informative)
They were Macs, they had indications. When they were recording, the little green light next to the camera was on.
The students noticed it. Some of them had reported it, but were told it was nothing and to not worry about it.
Re:Omnipresent Surveillance (Score:4, Informative)
Sure it is no effort at all.
Just don't have any form of traditional television that is ridiculously super expensive and run by assholes that *think* they can control the distribution.
I have Netflix and torrents. Recently, I started doing the torrents again for some TV instead of waiting for the DVD releases which have no overlay advertisements of any kind. The new webrip torrents are awesome. No commercials, and all those annoying overlays are history.
Before you say it is pirating, that is merely a point of view, not a fact. Anything they broadcast into my home is something I can store or obtain in any means I want. They made it free when they put it in my home without my consent, and without my ability to block it. They don't want me to have it? Stop broadcasting it into my house.
Issues of piracy aside, with RSS feeds, seedboxes, and automated processes I have something much better than cable television. So much better. At worst, it is about a 3-6 hour delay from broadcast television.
The Light of Other Days (Score:5, Informative)
A related sci-fi book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Other_Days [wikipedia.org] "The Light of Other Days is a 2000 science fiction novel written by Stephen Baxter based on a synopsis by Arthur C. Clarke, which explores the development of wormhole technology to the point where information can be passed instantaneously between points in the space-time continuum. ... The novel examines the philosophical issues that arise from the world's population (increasingly suffering from ecological and political disturbances) being aware that they could be under constant observation by anyone, or that they could observe anyone without their knowledge. ..."
There are a couple other similar sci-fi stories as well, including one about "Slow Glass" by Bob Shaw with the same name as that novel.
http://strick.net/blog/041103.html [strick.net]
And one about a similar time viewer (I forget the name).
A good thing to keep in mind is, just because we can do something, does not mean we should.
http://lostechies.com/derickbailey/2009/02/11/solid-development-principles-in-motivational-pictures/ [lostechies.com]
http://lostechies.com/derickbailey/files/2011/03/SingleResponsibilityPrinciple2_71060858.jpg [lostechies.com]
What kind of word do we want to live in, and what kind of world do we want for our children, and children's children, and so on, for seven or more generations?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_generation_sustainability [wikipedia.org]