Samsung And Privacy Essay Samples

Samsung is the Thought Police, but it is not as sinister as some may think. In 1984 by George Orwell, the government, big brother, whatever you want to call them was able to see and hear everything people were doing while they remained in the comfort of their living rooms. The TVs in 1984 served also as cameras so the people could be monitored.
The problem with technology nowadays is that we are constantly connected with the web of things and there really is no such thing as privacy. Samsung’s TVs, according to their privacy statement, says that “spoken wordswill be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition”. This is nothing new. Our phones have had voice recognition for years. Our location has been given to the powers that may be at any given time with the use of our GPS enabled phones. However, the problem is, it is becoming increasingly difficult to disable these features as they become more and more standard. For example, for Samsung televisions it takes several steps to disable this voice recognition software. IN some models, it is nearly impossible to turn it off.
This worries people because the TVs are constantly listening. Coupled with some sort of webcam, the TV is very much like those in 1984. The problem is, the consumer is never sure who is seeing and listening on the other side. The company may claim that these technological features help improve the customer experience and provide the best content to the consumer. But at what cost? Are people ready to give up privacy for convenience? It also begs another question, how secure is this data. It may be okay for Samsung’s computers and algorithms to recognize our voices and then provide us with the best content and experience, but what if this data is breached? It does not matter how secure these companies may claim to be, all we have to do is look at the Sony hack.

Works Cited

"Samsung Smart TV Raises Spying Privacy Fears - CNET." CNET. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cnet.com/videos/samsung-smart-tv-raises-spying-privacy-fears/>.
Harris, Shane. The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/05/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spying-on-you-basically.html>.
The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/02/09/samsung-don-t-talk-in-front-of-smart-tv.html>.
"Samsung Smart TV's Voice Recognition Creates Privacy Concerns." CBSNews. CBS Interactive. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/samsung-smart-tvs-voice-recognition-creates-privacy-concerns/>.
"Privacy | Samsung UK." Privacy | Samsung UK. Web. 14 Feb. 2015. <https://www.samsung.com/uk/info/privacy-SmartTV.html>.