California outlaws using info from eavesdropping TVs to target ads

[IDemo]

Source: CNN

California is banning advertisers from targeting ads using information collected from high-tech TVs that can eavesdrop on their owners.

The state's governor inked a new law on Tuesday that bans companies from "using or selling" recordings made by SmartTVs in order to customize commercials. Some modern televisions equipped with voice recognition allow viewers to control the TV with audible commands.

Samsung issued an unsettling warning in February when it told customers that SmartTVs are constantly listening and transmitting recordings back to the company, whether or not the feature is turned on.

Samsung said the information is only used to help improve the voice command feature, but it was unsettling for people who thought their living room conversations were private. It also tipped the public off to a potential for abuse.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/06/technology/california-smart-tv-spying-ban/index.html

[SoapBox]

1. I loves my Golden State

and Jerry.

[delrem]

2. This was the outer reaches of sci-fi hell, back in the 1960's and 70's.

That's a fact.

Until we disable the function - consider ourselves zombified.

[IDemo]

3. And 80's humor

"In Soviet Union, television watches you."

[delrem]

4. Those communists! So clever!

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. But I wanted to talk to The Big Guy!

[Journeyman]

6. Just because they can't use it for commerce doesn't mean it can't be abused . . .

I know I'd feel safer knowing my TV could only broadcast inward.

[ohnoyoudidnt]

7. Of course, the information is being collected and transferred to servers.

I don't doubt that if some entity with the resources were so inclined that they couldn't intercept it and use it for their own agenda. Shades of 1984.

[cpompilo]

9. Because the data travels the intertubes, the NSA has a digital copy. Cheers, 1984 is already here!

[mindwalker_i]

8. In Soviet Russia, TV watches YOU!

Geeze I wish this were still a joke. The solution, however, is obvious: don't buy a TV.

[bemildred]

14. That was my solution, no TV, it is all crap anyway. nt

[mindwalker_i]

16. It is crap, and there are so many better things to do that suck said crap down

Like read a book, write a program, build optical mounts for a physics experiment. TV "news" isn't news, at least not it it's made in this country. But my main reason is that TV is a form of mind control. It tells you that if you don't buy stuff, support certain companies, you aren't a good American. That's messed up.

[bemildred]

22. Indeed. Doing is better than watching.

Even this, Keyboard Commando, is better than just sitting there watching.

My cable company sends me letters about once a week trying to get me to pay the extra $15 for cable TV, and I don't want to give them the money, I want them bankrupted. They are grifters with suits.

[drm604]

10. This is why I don't want a smart TV.

I'm also concerned about my phone.

[MasonDreams]

11. Sooo.. taping that lens at the top of my monitor, and keeping a low profile @ work just not enough.

now i must stay silent in my living room!!! Wow

[awoke_in_2003]

17. Welcome to our Brave New World. nt

[MasonDreams]

19. My name is 905 and I'm glad to be alive, I'm the newest populator on the planet we call earth.

[Little Tich]

12. Creepy... n/t

[weknowvino2]

13. WARNING:

The INTERNET is the TV that Watches YOU

[hedgehog]

15. I was trying to figure out why criminals in California wanted to target

ads to people.

[olddots]

18. alot of my paranoid flashes from 30 years ago have come true

I was a high end A.V. designer/installer and realized the potential of our gear watching us .Those night mares have more than come true .Wireless is still a closed cicuit that can be broken into .As we type about hacked devices some of us may get pop ups for security gizmos that inturn are hackable .

[Jesus Malverde]

20. People who pay for bandwidth

can't be happy their TV is constantly uploading files. What a ridiculous "feature" you cannot turn off.


CIA Chief: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher

[colsohlibgal]

21. Major Paradigm Shifts Dead Ahead

TVs spying on us. Drones everywhere. Coming soon human like android personal assistants.

Real sea changes are going to happen faster and faster.Many of us grew up with 2 to 4 black and white TV stations and no way to record anything other than expensive reel to reel audio.

It is truer now than ever before, if you live any considerable amount of time you partly become a stranger in a strange land.

[snagglepuss]

23. Our generation will end up like our grandparents generation, one that

that saw imaginable change, from riding into town in a horse and wagon to seeing the first cars through to landing on the moon etc. 30 years ago I thought only their generation would have seen so many dramatic changes however not now.


What will the next 20 years bring????