Microsoft's Xbox One caught heat around the summer due to its Kinect camera "watching" users in anticipation for commands, leading the software giant to make changes to satisfy concerned customers. Now LG could be making a similar move.
South Korea's LG has been accused of selling Smart TVs that mine detailed data logs of users for advertising purposes.
The discovery was made by UK blogger DoctorBeet in October, when he noticed his television started displaying ads on the landing screen. Following some investigation, he found that LG analyses' users favorite programs, online behavior, and other information to offer relevant ads to target audiences through LG Smart Ad. He also noticed an "collection off watching info" option that was switched on by default. Even after switching the option off, he still noticed each channel change had still been transmitted to LG's computer servers.
Using network utility tool to monitor local network traffic Wireshark, he found his TV was transmitting a unique device ID listing the names of programs he watched. Even information from his USB drive were uploaded.
Britain's Information Commissioner's Office said it is investigating whether LGhas broken any law. "We have recently been made aware of a possible data breach which may involve LG Smart TVs," said a spokesman. "We will be making enquiries into the circumstances of the alleged breach of the Data Protection Act before deciding what action, if any, need to be taken."
BBC managed to get hold of DoctorBeet a.k.a. Mr. Huntley who was visibly disappointed and found it as "a terrible implementation of the idea."
"It still sends the traffic but labels it saying I didn't want it to be sent," Huntley said. "It's actually worse, I think, than if they'd not offered the opt out in the first place since it allows the user to believe nothing is being sent."
LG, at the moment, has been coy in its response.
"Customer privacy is a top priority at LG Electronics and as such, we take this issue very seriously," said an LG spokesman. "We are looking into reports that certain viewing information on LG Smart TVs was shared without consent."
