You Think The Cable Guy Is Weird, Wait Till You Get To Know Your TV--Or: Why You Need To Think Twice Before Buying Or Keeping A Smart TV

If I were to tell you that in the next 5 years your technology will be smarter than you, you would probably scoff and slough it off as some conspiratorial scare-tactic; a ploy to manipulate you into reading further through this blog.

The problem is that our technology already is smarter than we are, and we don't even know it.

Two stories have leaked out onto the internet today that should make those of us who have smart TVs and use simple Apple products concerned. 

A report came out today that smart TVs are able to record conversations of people around it, and even have facial recognition software, the information from which it then sends off to third parties. Here is an excerpt from Michael Price, counsel in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, writing for Salon Magazine:

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.

     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.

CNN Money: NSA Watching You Via Your SMART TV

What's alarming about this, and a sick joke really, is that in the past companies would pay people for information through questionnaires, blind tests, etc. Now, we the consumer are paying the companies to take our personal information and use it to sell us more product. If you have a smart TV, you need to very carefully read the privacy statement and make a clear decision whether or not you want to keep it. 

In a related article, it has been revealed that Apple products, by default, send unsaved files--from Pages documents, Notes, and Text Edit--directly to iCloud (not to your hard drive), without you even knowing it or being prompted otherwise. While this may seem to be a recent issue, it's been happening since December 2013, according to Slate Magazine.

To get around this feature, if what you set actually holds, is by doing the following: 

System Preferences -> iCloud -> Documents & Data, then check off the box.

But it's just the beginning: last month was the IoT conference, or the Internet of Things conference. This is emergent technology in which the various appliances in your house are and will all be hooked up to the internet via wifi. There are already reports about spam attacks being sent through an unsuspecting person's refrigerator. As this report from Wired Magazine states: "CIA Chief: We'll Spy On You Through Your Dishwasher." 

If you have smart devices or are considering purchasing one, think again. There are no apologies being made any more about the collection of private data--even homestead conversations--by companies and governments. You may not think you have anything to hide, but that's not the point. We are allowing machines to enter our homes that have eyes and ears; and we need to be aware of that fact before we open the door and let them in.