Samsung's Smart TVs have often made the headlines and they are back in the spotlight for very bad news: be careful what you say in front of your TV because it is spying on you. Explanations.

Samsung's Smart TVs again at the heart of a controversy

This is not new, so-called smart televisions have the particularity of offering you an image of incredible quality and features worthy of a computer. All this gives you access to a set of services such as web browsing, access to video on demand or even being able to play on your television. Of course, to provide these kinds of services, smart TVs need to collect information about their consumers. And inevitably, the collection of information never mixes well with the privacy of viewers. The latest Smart TVs from the Korean manufacturer Samsung have paid the price recently. Indeed, the voice control system used on these models records everything users say when they speak when it is activated. And this, all the time! It can be fully understood. Indeed, to successfully respond to voice commands, the smart television is forced to listen to you. This is also the case for smartphones and consoles that embed such a system. Thus, to analyze the user's requests, Samsung uses an external service, Nuance Communications, Inc., which will translate what is being asked of the Smart TV.

Clarifications and a warning

Faced with this discovery, Samsung wanted to specify it in its privacy policy. Thus, the manufacturer explains: "Your television can record voice commands and associated texts, which are collected by Samsung so that we can provide you with voice recognition features and improve the service". And Samsung does not stop there. single precision. It alerted its consumers to how they use the brand's products. If you're a die-hard Samsung fan, watch what you say when you're in your living room. Indeed, according to the manufacturer: "Please be aware that if your lyrics include personal or sensitive information, they will be part of the data recorded and transmitted to third-party services". Following this statement, a spokeswoman for the firm said that no data is kept or sold to advertisers and that the company uses a data encryption system to secure personal information. Thus, they can warn in case of unauthorized collection or use. Please note, even if the voice recognition functionality can be deactivated by the user, this does not necessarily mean that you are safe from spying. According to the Korean giant: "If you don't activate voice recognition, you won't be able to use the interactive voice recognition features, although you will still be able to control your TV using certain preset voice commands. Samsung will not collect your spoken words. Samsung may still collect associated texts and other usage data, so that we can evaluate the performance of the feature and improve it". A word of advice, if you ever see a small microphone appear on your television screen, be careful what you say!