Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://consumerist.com/2013/11/22/lg-admits-its-smart-tvs-collected-info-promises-fix-so-customers-can-actually-opt-out/">http://consumerist.com/2013/11...opt-out/</a> They can't be the only ones, but I will never buy anything LG ever again, not that I have in the first place. Makes you wonder who else does it, and why it is acceptable in the first place.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt If there was a clear warning on the box I wouldn't have an issue with this. What's troubling to me is that they did it without telling consumers.
Originally Posted By EdisYoda Not to mention the fact that when you turn the option off, it STILL sends the information back.
Originally Posted By Tikiduck People should be more concerned about the information collected off their computers.
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf While my gut reaction is that this is not a good thing that LG is doing, the rational side of me is asking "what does it hurt?" Am I naive in thinking that in this information age infomation is being gathered on me everywhere anyway so what does it matter if they are gathering information on what I watch? Please help me to understand what the danger is.
Originally Posted By SuperDry It is considered very valuable to know exactly what you are watching and when. This is because it's highly useful in selling advertising that is targeted to you. The TV set, as opposed to your DVR or cable/satellite, is at a disadvantage in that it generally speaking does not know what channel you're tuned to. One solution that has been devised for this is for the TV to upload a screenshot of what's on the screen every now and then to the TV manufacturer, who can then use the image to identify what program is being displayed on the TV. That may not have large privacy considerations if it's trying to figure out if you're watching ABC vs CBS. But what if you're viewing the private adult home movie you made with your spouse just for fun? Is it still okay for the TV to upload a screenshot every now and then to its mother ship? What if you have one of those nanny-cams set up so you can occasionally watch your children in their bedroom. Is it okay for images of that to be uploaded somewhere without your knowledge or consent? Or, what about the camera built into the front of the TV for video Skype calls - is it okay for an image of who's sitting in front of the TV to be uploaded so that they can identify which family members are watching at the moment? I'm not saying that the LG TVs in question have the image uploading feature. It does seem that they're uploading almost everything else, and that it does so even if you turn off the uploading feature. And, image uploading has been discussed by TV manufacturers as the way to solve the "what are they watching?" problem. If problems like this are not caught and addressed now, next year's problem could very well be the image upload issue.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost If you have cable or satellite, aren't the collecting the same information anyway? Why the big uproar all of a sudden, hadn't it occurred to anyone before, I mean really, old news. And like tracking you in Disney Parks, isn't helpful for you if they know that many people go to Pirates, then if they didn't and decided to cut expenses? TV shows, if enough like them and watch them, they stay on the air, if not...gone! Tracking isn't all evil and the information they get from my set, is next to useless anyway. I sometimes put my TV on at 2pm and then do something else and never turn it off until 11pm. All they know is what was on my set, not what I was watching. Much ado about nothing new. You have GPS systems in your cars and in your phones. Someone, somewhere knows where you are at all times, one way or the other. Worry about that is a ship that has left dock a long time ago. The only way you get away from it is to move to a third world country, leave your phone at home and live off the land, no credit cards or bank accounts and you will have the privacy that you want. You won't have much else, but you will be the only one that knows what it is.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<Worry about that is a ship that has left dock a long time ago.>> Maybe, but what laws are in place to limit what these companies, and/or government agencies, can do with all this data? That answer can vary pretty wildly depending on where in the world you live. And I think we need to be vigilant and vocal NOW before we reach a point where it's too late. We may not have reached the world of "1984" yet, but we are getting pretty close to having the technology to make all of those abuses possible. And the really sad thing is that it's not a government forcing all this surveillance on us - we're buying it all ourselves from a bunch of unregulated corporations whose only motivation is profit making. Frankly, I find the possibilities of what they can do once they start linking all of this data they're collecting about us together rather frightening.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< move to a third world country, leave your phone at home and live off the land, no credit cards or bank accounts and you will have the privacy that you want >>> I think there is a balance to be struck somewhere between what you describe above and your TV uploading pictures of you in your living room and stills of your home videos to its mother ship.
Originally Posted By ecdc SuperDry has hit on the problem. If I have a cable company and I watch or order a movie or show from them, I can reasonably expect that they'll know what I watch. It's their service that's providing it to me, after all. But what about when I pop in a blu-ray that has nothing to do with their service? What if I use my TV for video conferencing or Skyping? My cable box could be off and now I have a reasonable expectation that they aren't aware of what I'm watching. There are, of course, some extreme examples: watching homemade videos, Skyping, etc. But even if I don't want LG or other companies to start sending me ads with Humphrey Bogart movies in their streaming service once they realize I popped in my blu-ray of The Maltese Falcon, I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>The browser you're reading this in is most likely doing the same thing.<< FWIW it's not doing a good job. I constantly get banner ads for things that either I have no interest in or which are simply not me. Some make me break out laughing. If that's who they think I am, they couldn't be more wrong.
Originally Posted By Mr X I think it's fair to say that the era of big data is still very much in the preliminary gathering/calibrating phase. Give it a few years Kooroots, and you might be very surprised at how savvy, seemingly all-of-a-sudden, they will almost certainly become. Or perhaps you won't notice it at all because it'll be so subtle, you'll just go out and buy that high ticket item that you "just now" realised how much you've always wanted! As to the implications for some of the deeper concerns on this thread, I don't even want to think about it...
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Give it a few years Kooroots, and you might be very surprised at how savvy, seemingly all-of-a-sudden, they will almost certainly become.<< We'll see. And even if they figure what I really do like, that doesn't mean I'll go out and buy it. But for now, they seem utterly clueless about my two true loves: comic books and Disney theme parks. Instead they bombard me with banner ads for Asian mail order brides, bar mitzvahs in Israel, flipping houses, gay dating websites, right wing websites, etc.
Originally Posted By Mr X Of course. Like I said, calibration. They're just setting up the machine right now, testing the results and tweaking things. I know what you mean about not going out and buying stuff, I'm that way too - I don't easily fall for advertising campaigns. Although I'm a sucker for a discount, so I'm sure they'll figure that out eventually. Everyone has a weakness. ;p
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Instead they bombard me with banner ads for Asian mail order brides, bar mitzvahs in Israel, flipping houses, gay dating websites, right wing websites, etc.<< Sounds like fun. I'm STILL getting My Little Pony ads here on the LP boards. "I bet we can turn this guy into a brony yet if we show him just ONE more picture of Pinky Poo!"
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Right now I have one for Jos. A. Bank. They have good stuff, but it's kind of like going to Knott's - if you ever pay full asking price, you're not trying.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Just remember that if you aren't paying for a product or service then you aren't the customer but the inventory.
Originally Posted By EdisYoda I think the main issue here should not be that LG is spying on us BUT that LG is spying on us when we tell them not to... which is an option LG set up. If you choose to opt out (frankly it should be opt in, but oh well) then all data should stop flowing to LG, and it isn't. THAT is the problem.
