A careful review of the addendum to Samsung's Privacy Policy reveals that its SmartTVs may be just a bit more intelligent than some consumers are comfortable with. Anything spoken in the presence of a Samsung SmartTV could be transmitted to third parties and the company says it isn't accountable for how those entities use the information.
Samsung SmartTVs will only sell their users' words when voice recognition is enabled. Spoken words, along with information that identifies the user's device will be transmitted to a speech-to-text service.
"Samsung may collect and your device may capture voice commands and associated texts so that we can provide you with Voice Recognition features and evaluate and improve the features (sic). 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," stated in Samsung's Privacy Policy.
While it doesn't reference the text-to-speech service directly, those concerned with protecting their privacy may be even more wary of Samsung SmartTVs when reading the "Third parties" section of the addendum.
The policy states that users who access third-party applications are warned that the entities may collect transaction history, device information, the device's IP address and information about the use of the app or service -- that text-to-speech converter qualifies as a "service."
"Samsung is not responsible for these providers' privacy or security practices," says Samsung. "You should exercise caution and review the privacy statements applicable to the third-party websites and services you use."
Samsung's hand-washing, with what are arguably legally cleansing words, could leave children vulnerable to have their information mined and sold.
"SmartTV services may make available educational videos and other content appropriate for children, but we do not knowingly collect any personal information from children without parental consent, unless permitted by law."
The addendum to Samsung's Privacy Policy isn't exactly new. Microsoft's Xbox also exposes users' information too, in similar fashion to Samsung's SmartTV.
"You should not expect any level of privacy concerning your use of the live communication features (for example, voice chat, video and communications in live-hosted gameplay sessions) offered through the Xbox Live/Games for Windows-Live service," states Xbox's Terms of Use. "We may monitor these communications to the extent permitted by law. However, we cannot monitor the entire Services and make no attempt to do so. You understand that others can record and use these communications."
