From facial recognition to personal data collection, this thing is downright scary — and so are the implications
I just bought a new TV. The old one had a good run, but after the
volume got stuck on 63, I decided it was time to replace it. I am now
the owner of a new “smart” TV, which promises to deliver streaming
multimedia content, games, apps, social media and Internet browsing. Oh,
and TV too.
The only problem is that I’m now afraid to use it. You would be too — if you read through the 46-page privacy policy.
The amount of data this thing collects is staggering. It logs where,
when, how and for how long you use the TV. It sets tracking cookies and
beacons designed to detect “when you have viewed particular content or a
particular email message.” It records “the apps you use, the websites
you visit, and how you interact with content.” It ignores “do-not-track” requests as a considered matter of policy.
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| The FBI will not have to bug your living room; you will do it yourself. |
It also has a built-in camera — with facial recognition.
The purpose is to provide “gesture control” for the TV and enable you
to log in to a personalized account using your face. On the upside, the
images are saved on the TV instead of uploaded to a corporate server. On
the downside, the Internet connection makes the whole TV vulnerable to
hackers who have demonstrated the ability to take complete control of
the machine.
More troubling is the microphone. The TV boasts a “voice recognition”
feature that allows viewers to control the screen with voice commands.
But the service comes with a rather ominous warning: “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.” Got that? Don’t say personal or sensitive stuff in front of the TV.
You may not be watching, but the telescreen is listening.
I do not doubt that this data is important to providing customized
content and convenience, but it is also incredibly personal,
constitutionally protected information that should not be for sale to
advertisers and should require a warrant for law enforcement to access.
Unfortunately, current law affords little privacy protection to so-called “third party records,” including email, telephone records, and data stored in “the cloud.” Much of the data captured and transmitted by my new TV would likely fall into this category. Although one federal court of appeals has found this rule unconstitutional with respect to email, the principle remains a bedrock of modern electronic surveillance.
According to retired Gen. David Petraeus, former head of the CIA,
Internet-enabled “smart” devices can be exploited to reveal a wealth of
personal data. “Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies
such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded
servers, and energy harvester,” he reportedly told a venture capital
firm in 2012. “We’ll spy on you through your dishwasher,”
read one headline. Indeed, as the “Internet of Things” matures,
household appliances and physical objects will become more networked. Your ceiling lights, thermostat and washing machine — even your socks — may be wired to interact online. The FBI will not have to bug your living room; you will do it yourself.
Click here to read the rest of this story on Salon.com
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