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Smart TVs Are Invading Privacy and Should Be Investigated, Senators Say (arstechnica.com)
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that a number of smart TV makers include services from companies that track a range of viewer information about their customers. Now, two Democratic US senators are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate privacy problems related to Internet-connected televisions. From a report: "Many Internet-connected smart TVs are equipped with sophisticated technologies that can track the content users are watching and then use that information to tailor and deliver targeted advertisements to consumers," Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a letter yesterday to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons. "Regrettably, smart TV users may not be aware of the extent to which their televisions are collecting sensitive information about their viewing habits." The letter asked the FTC to "launch an investigation into the privacy policies and practices of smart TV manufacturers." When contacted by Ars, an FTC spokesperson confirmed that the agency received the letter from Markey and Blumenthal, but the FTC offered no further comment.
Sanators are invading privacy and should be watching TV instead, Investigators say.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Senators seem to think on your tv problem on your computer no problem. WTF?
Say what you will about this, but it's a positive step. It's nice to see US politicos finally acknowledging personal privacy and freedom from intrusive tech as rights. The EU has thought about these kinds of issues for decades, whereas the prevailing attitude in the US is head-in-the-sand. aka "If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide."
Yeah, we've been meaning to tell you that you need to learn to wipe better. You have quite a ripe harvest of dingleberries you've been cultivating.
There are plenty of inexpensive devices one can use for streaming, there is no reason to allow your smart TV to connect to the internet.
The real issue is that manufacturers are hiding their bad behaviour in vague EULA language (or just not disclosing it, e.g. Vizio), if they had to be upfront and disclose "We are going to track what you watch and sell this information to third parties" there would big significant consumer pushback.
... and being lazy ...
Any reason not to just buy a big monitor and use it for my "TV"?
(When the old dumb TV dies)
They simply will say "we won't".
That's the business, baby!
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
I saw something about this while watching C-SPAN on my Smart TV and I heard the Senators say, "Smart TVs are wonderful and everyone should own one and watch it every day." Sure, their mouths and words lined up like on a old b&w Godzilla movie dubbed into English, but what's weird about that? I'll watch my Smart TV some more and get back to you with any updates ...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Goatse?
Senators (like oligarchs anywhere,) only give a fuck when something affects them personally. From this I deduce they have or want TVs. Maybe they want smart TVs, specifically, maybe not. But I do know they are worried about how smart TVs are invading peoples privacy, and not about governmental intrusion into the lives of the people, or their own stinking corruption. I hope their TVs DO spy on them. Would serve them right.
Have you seen modern monitors? Your name implies you are stuck in the 90's so I'll break it down for ya...
Let's rap!
You have to launch a Windows app to change any settings. They are SmartTVs with no built in tuner.
Before "smart" TVs were even popular, experts warned everyone all about this. I mean, what's next, are they going to say that the voice assistants are a privacy threat? Seriously, everything that communicates with the manufacturer ("phones home") is a threat to your privacy and security and yes, should be investigated!
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I think smart TV's are not so smart. They tend to be forgotten by the manufacture far too soon, or do not receive updates in a timely manor. Yeah its pretty convenient to have all that function in one device. But it has a history of not being well supported.
Other than the higher price for existing monitors ($900 for a 38" monitor vs $200 for 40" TV) and the lack of monitors above 49"?
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
... TV watch you!
Check your premises.
Like this isn't happening all over the goddam motherfucking Internet or stuff.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
This is why I have a "dumb" TV. Accepts HDMI, composite, and RF inputs only. No network connection is needed or wanted.
That's what the Raspberry Pi is for.
Gross. No one wanted to hear about your masturbatory fantasies.
I actually haven't thought about smart tvs tracking your viewing and phoning the info home. Not surprised at all, and don't really care seeing as how I don't have one, but never considered it.
To have a normal TV.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Using a dumb-screen just means the tracking isn't built into the screen hardware.
It also means one-stop hacking tools won't be turning on your camera, or a built-in microphone, or converting your TV set's speakers to a microphone for surveillance/blackmail purposes. Unless of course you've installed Alexa, Siri, or some other new-and-shiny abomination, in which case your dumb monitor won't protect you from much of anything.
I have an old Roku I use for streaming. Do they know what I watch. Unfortunately yes, but at least that's the extent of their eavesdropping (unless I forget to put the iphone in a drawer in the office and close the door, or my tablet, or (possibly) my Linux laptop, or my apple watch...
It may be difficult or impossible to eliminate all of the surveillance devices in our lives, but we can reduce the number to a manageable few, and make sure those aren't in the part of the house where we live most of our private lives. Or better yet, put the Internet and television in an outbuilding, and keep that shit as far away as possible when we're not using it.
But no one will do that. We're just too fucking lazy to deal with even the slightest inconvenience, like having to walk to another room to answer our iphones. So the lesson on what happens to a people in a dystopian surveillance society will unfortunately have to be learned the hard way ... and many of us probably won't survive that lesson. Oh well.
Heaven forbid someone might be making money, through some devious and illegal means, and Congress is not in on it yet? These days, without a significant payoff to the right reelection campaign this kind of behavior will never be allowed. What were they thinking? /s
...DUH! I'd never buy a "Smart" TV.
the TV investigates you.
The reason why Smart TV Makers want to spy on you is to sell ads. They are collecting all the info they can get, and selling it to third party companies that try to figure out what kind of stuff they can advertise to you that you will buy. Being able to collect demographic info is very valuable, as before this happened, the only data they had was stuff like Nielsen ratings and surveys. The more they know about their customers, the more they can sell targeted advertising and the more they make from it.
These TVs are just doing the same thing that websites have been for years, with one important exception: This isn't like a website collecting info, it is more akin to a internet provider watching all the http requests coming down the pipes, so they get to watch everything that is being done on the TV. (I'm sure that Internet providers would love to be able to sell PI directly to advertising agencies in the same way). It seems a little creepy, but I am not sure how much really personal info you can gleam out of knowing that someone watched 'Leave it to Beaver' reruns on a Tuesday afternoon. Probably a little more than you are comfortable with, but far less that an advertiser or the NSA would really like to know.
The margins on TVs are razor thin, so a chance to get a chunk of fat recurring advertising revue is impossible to pass up. When I say, impossible, I don't mean it in a figurative way. With the huge boost in profits from advertising, you can sell TVs at cost or even a loss, and easily drive competitors out of business. If you don't do this, your competitor will. These companies are banking on advertising revenue to carry them, a CFO literally told me this.
How do I know this? I worked for a TV maker for awhile. They know how much they make off you when you buy a TV, and how much per year you are worth for advertising dollars, and they announce it at quarterly meetings. I think they are far more scared of having a bad sales year than customer push back in the form of lawsuits. I can only imagine how Trump's threats of a trade war with China terrify them. You want scary? Go run a billion dollar business on super tight margins while it is being hit with heavy import tariffs.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
I live in the UK. I don't pay a TV license fee because I don't
a) Watch live TV
b) stream from the BBC
If my Smart 55" TV tries to narc on me, it can't because I watch things I download. :-)
HBO, CTV, NOT BBC
So hey, you can't put ads on downloads mofos
(Except for the banner ads from CTV. I hate you! Why do I have to watch ads from another country)
Other than the higher price for existing monitors ($900 for a 38" monitor vs $200 for 40" TV) and the lack of monitors above 49"?
The existing TV is ... 25 in? (I actually measured diagonally with a tape measure) and more than big enough for our modest living room.
So ... lack of giant screens not a factor for me.
android smartphones and tablets, microsoft windows, smart speakers, the only way to keep 21st century electronics from spying on you is to smash them all with a hammer, and live without them, and even then you're not safe from the big brother Orwellian world we allowed to sprout up
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Many smart TVs have cameras embedded.
And of course you cannot completely turn them off with a remote control.
Maybe we should call them telescreens.
That their tvs will catch them abusing some pizza and they'll end up in jail like weiner.
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n/t
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Why not? You seemed to think it was fine when you were talking about your dingleberry fetish.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
(Not saying I don't dislike / hate privacy invasions, etc or data on me being sold, just something I've been wondering)
I'll see these thing say "(service) sells data for targeted ads," and people get super pissed. Aside from the invasion of privacy... Is anyone pissed about it being targeted ads? Or is it just literally the privacy issue?
Welcome to the 21st century, senators. In case you hadn't heard, privacy is a quaint concept from the past. These TVs, which have now been around for years, are small potatoes compared to the small "digital assistant" spy devices people are voluntarily putting in their houses. Hey, Alexa! Tell Amazon that I thought about buying a pair of boots today! Hey Google! Call the FBI and tell them I said the word "bomb" three times!
"tracking you for ads" makes a claim beyond your knowledge and risks minimizing the loss of one's privacy. Tracking users (data collection in general) is capable of being used for multiple purposes including purposes we don't yet recognize. We also aren't privy to how the collected data is being used now. We only know what organizations claim to use the data for (and that's all the Senate would know if they had a hearing, which means their hearings are nearly useless because they amount to little more than a public shaming demanding minor changes to the software publishing organization).
It's right and proper to believe that a network-connected device with a camera & microphone which runs on proprietary software is untrustworthy by default. All proprietary software is untrustworthy regardless of what the proprietors claim or how long one has used that software and seen the software do something they want.
The solution is software freedom -- the freedom to run, inspect, share, and modify published computer software. Let users run, inspect, share, and modify all of the software on their devices so they can vet the software (or get someone they trust to vet that software) and device owners can make the software do what the device owner wants (or get someone they trust to do this on their behalf). Then after they install and run the improved software the device owner ends up with a device that doesn't mistreat them.
Digital Citizen
https://xkcd.com/2015/