Orwell was right.....the thought-police are on their way now...

and your cell phones and web ... ck this movie out ...
was thrilling and interesting ... Enemy of the State...

yea, they are called democrats...

i did not know, that Bush was a democrat, when he signed the Patriot Act into law, which set the ball rolling for the government to do just about anything they want as far as invading the privacy of the citizens of the usa....

edit -- typos

IMHO politics are two sides of the same coin! Either way government wins and the people lose everything in the end! As long as the politicians get their fixed salaries, luxury cars and accommodations, and their other extra benefits, they'll do anything to sell us to the highest bidder. No moral compass in humans leads to betrayals in rights! They can never be trusted to do the honorable or right thing because they are consumed with greed for their own happiness, comfort and prosperity! They don't care who suffers as long as they don't!

yes, and when did obarry drop it, as promised?

three very big provisions (sections, 215, 206 and 6001) are set to expire on 6/1/2015...
but has congress has decided to go ahead with re-authorization of these sections....so again, PRESIDENT OBAMA's hands are tied by a congress unwilling to even consider any amendments of compromise......you might want to consider reading some information that is more unbiased than conservative hogwash on the need to fight the so-called "War on Terror"....

Why worry about Big Brother?

It's your big Samsung TV that's watching you. Oh, and listening to you.

That seems to be the conclusion from reading the privacy small print offered by the company. (Samsung's motto: TV has never been this smart.)

It concerns the voice-recognition feature, vital for everyone who finds pressing a few buttons on their remote far too tiresome.

The wording, first spotted by the Daily Beast, first informs you that the company may "capture voice commands and associated texts so that we can provide you with Voice Recognition features and evaluate and improve the features."

This is almost understandable. It's a little like every single customer service call, supposedly recorded to make your next customer service call far, far more enjoyable.

However, the following words border on the numbing: "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 through your use of Voice Recognition."

We are NOT having your mother here this weekend, next weekend or ANY weekend!

I'm pregnant and it's not yours.

The possibilities curdle in the mind. So much so that I have contacted Samsung to ask how broad this policy might be and what third parties might be informed of your personal conversations. (I would have just shouted at my SmartTV to get comment, but it isn't a Samsung.)

A Samsung spokeswoman told me: "Samsung takes consumer privacy very seriously. In all of our Smart TVs we employ industry-standard security safeguards and practices, including data encryption, to secure consumers' personal information and prevent unauthorized collection or use."

But what might be authorized and by whom?

Samsung's spokeswoman continued: " Should consumers enable the voice recognition capability, the voice data consists of TV commands, or search sentences, only. Users can easily recognize if the voice recognition feature is activated because a microphone icon appears on the screen."

Yes, we must now look for little microphone icons to check whether we're being listened to.

As for the third parties mentioned in the privacy policy, Samsung explained it to me like this: "Samsung does not retain voice data or sell it to third parties. If a consumer consents and uses the voice recognition feature, voice data is provided to a third party during a requested voice command search. At that time, the voice data is sent to a server, which searches for the requested content then returns the desired content to the TV."

One imagines this is simply one more small step for mankind toward ultimate electronic envelopment, which some see as a very good thing.

Your Nest and other devices will, of course, capture so many of your domestic predilections too. This is about making the Internet of Things merely one more thing in making your life easier, lazier and seemingly less private.

Clearly, this isn't the only option for those intent on a SmartTV. You can disable the full panoply and stick to a series of already-defined voice commands. However, this still brings with it stipulations such as "While Samsung will not collect your spoken word, Samsung may still collect associated texts and other usage data so that we can evaluate the performance of the feature and improve it."

Alright, you cry, I'll switch voice-recognition data off altogether. This will result in "You may disable Voice Recognition data collection at any time by visiting the 'settings' menu. However, this may prevent you from using all of the Voice Recognition features."

As Samsung's spokesperson explained to me: "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."

You might imagine that other SmartTV manufacturers would have similar controls and stipulations. If a product can listen and record something, it's likely it will.

So I went to Philips SmartTVs and could only find a general privacy notice, with no specific information relating to SmartTVs. LG's privacy policy again is general, with no apparent specific information relating to SmartTVs and their potential.

I have contacted both companies to ask whether there is a more detailed supplement that makes their TVs capabilities clear.

LG was, however, embroiled in a privacy controversy in 2013, when its SmartTVs were accused of knowing too much. The company promised to change its policies.
More Technically Incorrect



At the heart of all this is, of course, trust. The best and only defense against intrusion from the likes of Google to Samsung is this: "We don't really care about your private life. We just want your data, so that we can make money from it."

It's inevitable that the more data that we put out, the more will be recorded and the more will be known about us by machines which are in the charge of people.

We have all agreed to this. We click on "I agree" with no thought of consequences, only of our convenience.

It isn't just your TV that will listen and record. Soon, it'll be everything that has a digital connection.

This is our digital bed. We lie in it willingly.

http://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-record-your-living-room-chatter/#ftag=YHF65cbda0

I must of missed that meeting...

I don't get to manipulate anyone through surveillance.

i see... bush had the power to implement it, but obarry has no power to stop it... obarry could have stopped it 4 years ago, and decided not to drop it then... seems that all democrats are so quick to point out how powerful and evil bush was, but yet obarry has no power and is the greatest thing since sliced bread...

you are right Moe, I stand corrected....Obama signed the sunset extension in 2011...
i not a big fan of any politician or the political arena.....but, i do have the respect to refer to these people by their correct names.....this obarry, obozo, odumbo usage kinda sets me off and i spoke a little too quickly....i apologize...MousyMoe........your bud...Fartgo63

the Soetoro id card and the place of birth stories have been totally debunked...you dont really believe that stuff do you ???....

I believe his name really was barry soetoro, he/they had it changed when he went to muslim school in Indonesia...
and i think he also got a foreign student visa/financing under that same name at Columbia...

the id card is a fake, it's Obamas picture alright but the picture is from his days at Harvard law school....the card is issued in 1981 and it is in digital format, which wasn't wasn't introduced at Columbia until 15 years later...an obvious fake....

i'm going to a tea party next tuesday, wanna go with ?...lol