---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "ECOTERRA Intl."
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2016 11:13:25 +0300
Subject: [NATURAL_DEFENCE] Samsung Warns Customers
To: MAILHUB
*
**Samsung Warns Customers To Think Twice
About What They Say Near Smart TVs*
By *Jake Anderson http://theantimedia.org/team/jake/**- February 12, 2016*
*(**ANTIMEDIA* http://theantimedia.org/*)* /—/ In a troubling new
development in the domestic consumer surveillance debate, an
investigation into Samsung Smart TVs has revealed that user voice
commands are recorded, stored, and transmitted to a third party. The
company even warns customers not to discuss
http://theweek.com/speedreads/538379/samsung-warns-customers-not-discuss-per...
personal or sensitive information within earshot of the device.
This is in stark contrast to previous claims by tech manufacturers,
like Playstation
http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/5/5054400/can-your-xbox-one-spy-on-you,
who vehemently deny their devices record personal information, despite
evidence to the contrary, including news that hackers can gain access
http://www.geek.com/games/playstation-3-is-biggest-spy-ever-says-hacker-tran...
to unencrypted streams of credit card information.
The new Samsung controversy stems from the discovery of a single
haunting statement in the company’s “privacy policy,” which states:
/“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.”/
This sparked a back and forth between the /Daily Beast/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/05/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spy...
and Samsung regarding not only consumer privacy but also security
concerns. If our conversations are “captured and transmitted,”
eavesdropping hackers may be able to use our “personal or other
sensitive information” for identity theft or any number of nefarious
purposes.
There is also the concern that such information could be turned over to
law enforcement or government agencies. With the revelation of the PRISM
http://techreport.com/news/24923/nsa-prism-program-collecting-data-from-micr...
program /—/ by which the NSA collected data from Microsoft, Google, and
Facebook /— /and other such NSA spying programs
https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/timeline, neither the government nor
the private sector has the benefit of the doubt in claiming tech
companies are not conscripted into divulging sensitive consumer info
under the auspices of national security.
Michael Price
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/05/your-samsung-smarttv-is-spy...,
counsel in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan
Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, stated:
/“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.”/
Responding to the controversy, Samsung updated its privacy policy, named
its third party partner, and issued the following statement:
/“Voice recognition, which allows the user to control the TV using voice
commands, is a Samsung Smart TV feature, which can be activated or
deactivated by the user. The TV owner can also disconnect the TV from
the Wi-Fi network.”/
Under still more pressure, Samsung named
http://www.newsweek.com/samsung-updates-smarttv-policy-names-third-party-col...
its third party affiliate, Nuance Communications. In a statement to
/Anti-Media/, Nuance said:
/“Samsung is a Nuance customer. The data that Nuance collects is speech
data. Nuance respects the privacy of its users in its use of speech
data. Our use of such data is for the development and improvement of our
voice recognition and natural language understanding technologies. As
outlined in our privacy policy, third parties work under contract with
Nuance, pursuant to confidentiality agreements, to help Nuance tailor
and deliver the speech recognition and natural language service, and to
help Nuance develop, tune, enhance, and improve its products and services./
/“We do not sell that speech data for marketing or advertising. Nuance
does not have a relationship with government agencies to turn over
consumer data…..There is no intention to trace these samples to specific
people or users.”/
Nuance’s Wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuance_Communications mentions that the
company maintains a small division for government and military system
development, but that is not confirmed at this time.
Despite protestations from these companies that our voice command data
is not being traced to specific users or, worse, stored for use by
government or law enforcement agencies, it seems that when it comes to
constitutional civil liberties, the end zone keeps getting pushed
further and further down the field.
For years, technologists and smart device enthusiasts claimed webcam and
voice recording devices did not store our information. While Samsung may
be telling the truth about the use of that data, there are countless
companies integrating smart technology who may not be using proper
encryption methods and may have varying contractual obligations to
government or law enforcement.
Is it really safe for us to assume that the now exceedingly evident
symbiotic relationship between multinational corporations and government
agencies does not still include a revolving door for the sharing of
sensitive consumer data?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
/This article (//Samsung Warns Customers To Think Twice About What They
Say Near Smart TVs/
http://theantimedia.org/samsung-warns-customers-to-think-twice-about-what-th.../)
is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article
under a //Creative Commons/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0//license with attribution
to //Jake Anderson http://theantimedia.org/author/jake1/ //and
//theAntiMedia.org/ http://theantimedia.org/about/. //Anti-Media
Radio/ http://theantimedia.org/radio//airs weeknights at 11pm
Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email //edits@theantimedia.org//.
//========
*
* *Pro-active work to protect nature and human rights requires YOU to
work with us*
*Even if you have no possibility to be at the front-lines with us,
please know we need independent funding.**
*
*PLEASE consider to contribute to ECOTERRA's work and trust fund. *
-------------------
*ECOTERRA Intl.*
/***SURVIVAL & FREEDOM for PEOPLE & NATURE*/
-----------------
Our full footer, being an essential, legal part of this dissemination,
can be found at
http://www.ecoterra.net/footer.htm
- please read it at least once a month to see important security updates.
----------------------
***ECOTERRA Intl. nodes:*
Canaries - Cairns - Cairo - Calgary - Cape Town - Cassel - Cebu - Cork -
Curitiba - London - Los Angeles - Nairobi - Roma - Paris - Reykjavik -
Stuttgart - Wien - Vanuatu
ECOTERRA - FIRST PEOPLES & NATURE FIRST!
http://www.ecoterra-international.org
24 h EMERGENCY RESPONSE PHONE LINE: +254-714-747-090
Marine Group:http://www.ecop.info/
