George Orwell's "1984" is becoming a reality. The machines are now listening to us, watching us and tracking us. But now the detection is coming from unexpected machines in our homes. The most shocking is the refrigerator. Now with the advances in technology you can play music, watch television, and even voice command your fridge. But this means it is enabled to connect to the internet and report back it's observations to whomever wants to access the data.
The one that is truly bringing "1984" to 2016 is the Samsung Smart TV which recently changed it's user agreement after many complaints of privacy arose. The original agreement stated that any spoken word, including private information, recorded would be sent to a third party source for translation to text in order to transmit the command to the TV. Now they reworded it taking out that private information is involved in this. However, they didn't change the function of the TV. It still does the same basic things however, now the user just lives in ignorance. But where is the bliss behind being spied on? What happens when our TV begins to talk back and eventually tell us what to do? Well, isn't it already doing that? The smart TV's track what you watch. They make prediction based on the things you watch and the times you watch it. So in a way it is going to be telling you what to watch and when to watch it. Soon we will no longer have to touch a remote or make a voice command because it will just play what it thinks we will watch and we will think it is what we want.
Our computers and phones were already known to track us, listen to us, and even see us through the camera. But now the one way transmission that was TV is a two way street that is reporting back more pertinent information then what we are receiving. What's next? Our couches will be taking our butt imprints and telling the government how long we like to sit down? Or our silverware will be submitting our fingerprints to the highest bidder? It's a scary road we are on and yet we all seem to accept the privacy we have given up.
http://www.myce.com/news/samsung-changes-smart-tv-privacy-policy-after-user-concerns-but-still-shares-spoken-words-with-third-parties-78598/
http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2016/February/US-Government-Can-Spy-on-You-Through-Your-Fridge
A lot of the things people were talking about back then are happening today. Technology does everything for us at a press of a button on your phone or a computer. Privacy in my opinion is non existent because of technology and it will continue to grow for years to come.
ReplyDeleteNot that I watch a lot of TV in general, but I do watch netflix. Isn't that the exact the same thing? Tracking what we watch, and giving us suggestions? I do completely agree, we are on a dangerous road, and it does not seem like we want to do anything about it. we simply like the convenience.
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