Perhaps you’re concerned about the government monitoring your phone calls if you are a private person by nature. But, you should know that if you have a smart TV, it could be spying on you. Smart TVs are flat-screen TVs with a number of built-in apps such as Hulu Plus, that allow you to have access to content that is online. There are some models that even let you know that you’re being watched by “Big Brother.”
Companies offer packages like Direct TV and the NFL Sunday Ticket by knowing what people want. There are several other reasons why spying is so popular. Let’s know more here:
Samsung Smart TVs
At least Samsung is honest. They let you know in their terms of service that you will be spied upon. Here are the exact words you need to look for. “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.
Samsung as you might expect has been taking a bit of heat from consumers, but still a major part of the new era of internet television.
LG Smart TVs
Samsung is not the only maker of smart TVs you have to worry about, as LG Smart TVs also have that ability. In 2013, it became common knowledge that LG brand smart TVs were looking at you to determine what you’re watching, when you’re watching it, and how you watch it. According to reports, they were even gathering file names from external USB drives connected to their smart TVs.
LG’s explanation of this is that this information was gathered to share with advertisers. Also, they claim it is for making recommendations for programs. After it became public knowledge that their products were being used to spy on consumers, LG took a great deal of flak just like Samsung. So they relented and said you could turn off that feature. But even if you turned it off, it turns out they were still spying on you.
In 2013, a firmware update allowed users to turn off the spy feature for good, if it was downloaded and installed.
But there is good news if you own one of these smart TVs and do not want to be spied on. It can be turned off. There are ways to stop your smart TV from spying on you. It works for Samsung Smart TVs, and it details both easy, and hard ways to stop all brands of smart TVs from getting in the middle of your business.
You might wonder why this is not common knowledge these days when everyone seems to be paranoid about the government. The simple truth is that smart TVs are a small market segment as of now, but most projections show them growing in market share over the next few years as more and more people make use of their internet connections to watch programming.
So, is your smart TV invading your privacy? Well, if you own a Samsung or LG brand, and have not taken steps to stop them, chances are very good you could be in the cross-hairs of Big Brother right now. If you are not comfortable with that fact, take the needed steps to being it to an end.
