I’ve been telling people that 1984 is coming, but no one seems to care. Here’s one more indication:
Samsung SmartTV
The Samsung SmartTV has a built-in microphone that is equipped with voice recognition technology that allows users to give verbal commands to the TV. In order for Samsung to convert your speech to text, the voice commands are sent over the Internet to a third-party for interpretation.
However, since the TV is “always on,” the microphone is recording every word you’re saying at all times. Even in its SmartTV privacy policy, Samsung acknowledges that all spoken words, including personal or other sensitive information, are sent unencrypted to the third party.
Eh, what could go wrong? It’s not like high tech firms would give in to government pressure to invade the privacy of tech users. No need to fear the NSA ever getting any of that info.
I’ve argued that it’s up to the younger generation to figure out how much privacy they want. My only request is that we stop having students read 1984 in high school. If that’s the world we want, then let’s stop pretending it’s some sort of dystopia.
Fortunately we don’t have a war that seems to go on forever, and that the government uses as an excuse to have all sorts of extra powers.
Update: Et tu, Ford?