[Waterluvian]

Don't mind me. I'm just going to come into your house and record what commercials you are watching. I'm not spyware I'm just _merely_ wanting to know about my marketing budget.

Analogy may not be perfect but it takes serious mental gymnastics to fail to see this as spyware, in my opinion.

[bitcrazy]

It wouldn't be surprising if some Smart TVs are already doing this.

[caconym_]

Didn't Samsung literally get caught uploading screenshots of content played on their TVs to some server? Maybe it was some other company?

These days, unless you take drastic measures to defend yourself from spyware embedded in consumer technology or forgo it all together, it seems that you'll be subject to this kind of surreptitious abuse as a matter of course.

[simonh]

Worse than that, audio recordings from people's living rooms:

"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."

[cj]

> that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition

Could also mean they're using AWS Transcribe (or similar) instead of rolling their own speech to text engine.

But that's only the most optimistic interpretation.

[SamuelAdams]

Yes, Vizio already got caught and sued over this behavior.

> Starting in 2014, Vizio made TVs that automatically tracked what consumers were watching and transmitted that data back to its servers. Vizio even retrofitted older models by installing its tracking software remotely. All of this, the FTC and AG allege, was done without clearly telling consumers or getting their consent.

> What did Vizio know about what was going on in the privacy of consumers’ homes? On a second-by-second basis, Vizio collected a selection of pixels on the screen that it matched to a database of TV, movie, and commercial content. What’s more, Vizio identified viewing data from cable or broadband service providers, set-top boxes, streaming devices, DVD players, and over-the-air broadcasts. Add it all up and Vizio captured as many as 100 billion data points each day from millions of TVs.

> Vizio then turned that mountain of data into cash by selling consumers’ viewing histories to advertisers and others.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/7/14527360/vizio-smart-tv-tr...

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/02/...

[ethbro]

https://samba.tv/

"We use anonymized data to provide a positive advertising experience, enable ad-supported TV networks to keep their shows free, and partner with TV manufacturers which reduces the price of TVs for you."

[userbinator]

We are already living in the world of 1984.

"TV watches you", except this isn't Soviet Russia.

[kohtatsu]

In many ways; yes.

In the most of the important ways; no.

You can still fight back effectively. Don't go gentle into that good night.

[sneak]

Some of them even connect to any available open wifi without being configured to do so, so even keeping them from phoning home is difficult/impossible if your neighbor is careless.

[hedora]

Don’t forget that you’re picking which houses to invade based on gender, age, etc.

Totally not creepy.

[blackoil]

Isn't that how the TRP is calculated. IIRC agencies install devices in random houses to find which program is being watched.

[Nextgrid]

The difference is that this is done with the user’s explicit consent and I’m pretty sure they get compensated for it.

[drevil-v2]

Sample of houses IIRC 10,000 in USA. That's vastly different to installing the device in every house in America.