Internet and privacy issues

Watching television used to be a passive experience. You just watch what appears on the screen. The TV cannot talk back to you or interact with you in any way. It surely is a window to the world, but a one way one.

But this picture is changing, literally. With the arrival of so-called ‘Smart’ televisions that can directly access and connect to the Internet, televisions are becoming two-way devices. Some conventional Television channels already have limited interactivity, including shopping channels and sports channels which let you see the action from the angles of your choice and access statistics of the players(s) of your choice.

The latest news that has created controversy in the TV world is the revelation that certain television sets from Samsung, the world’s biggest maker of TVs, can transmit user data to third-parties. It has become the latest technology company to face a backlash for how data is collected from users.

Private

Its Web-connected sets can apparently collect private conversations when users activate its voice-recognition function. The good news is that consumers can turn the function on or off at any time. Several other TV makers also incorporate such functions into their LED TV sets.

The data collection practices on Samsung’s TVs are contained in the user agreements. Among other companies, Google Inc., LinkedIn Corp. and Yahoo Inc. have been sued over how they collect data while Apple Inc. last year updated privacy policies to reassure users that their data is safe.

However, the TVs are already facing a backlash from privacy groups and other parties. “If you’re watching TV, the TV should not be watching you back,” says Julia Horwitz, a consumer protection counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Centre. “Consumers, like the company, don’t know what will happen after the data is collected.”

Samsung explained that when a user gives a voice command to a Web-connected TV, the data is sent to a server to search for the requested content. In a supplemental note posted on its website, the company said it might still collect information to evaluate the performance of the feature. This means that over a period of time, outside entities can gain an understanding on the search behaviour and the likes and dislikes of the TV watchers.

This is not the first time that electronics manufacturers have been implicated over privacy breaches. The World Wide Web seems to be the biggest culprit as there are a multitude of ways your privacy can be breached on the web. Have you seen those ads that crop up alongside your open emails? If you read both your incoming email and the ads carefully, you will notice that the ads eerily reflect the keywords in the email you are reading. For example, if your email is about a holiday in the hills, several ads on hotels will pop up. A robot is basically ‘reading’ your email to generate these ads. Even if no human operator is involved the fact that your email has been ‘read’ can make you a little uneasy.

Hacking

A spate of high profile hacks, such as the hacking of Sony Studios and online retailers, has also exposed cracks in the Internet, raising fears over data protection ‘in the cloud’, which is another word for internet storage. Then there are occasions on which users themselves give their privacy away. If you post on facebook or Twitter that you are away on vacation, that could be “open sesame” for burglars. Your children could become vulnerable if their pictures are posted on facebook. Posting on the Internet is indeed a difficult balancing act. A common piece of advice when it comes to the internet is “if you don't want the whole world to hear about it, don't say it online”.

Voice recognition software on smartphones such as Siri (Apple iOS) and Google Now (Google/Android) may be very convenient (“Siri, tell me where the nearest restaurant is”) could also affect your privacy. Such a request could give away your location, your dining preferences and even a hint about your monetary position. There is no telling where your request could end up. In fact, your whole smartphone is designed to spy on you. Here’s how the Sydney Morning Herald described the smartphone in a recent article: “A small box that can collect location data, detect motion, store audio and video plus keeps track of your online activities, your phone provides a way for most of your apps and services to “listen in” on you in one way or another.”

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Devices that require personal input and the collection of personal data to function - be it via voice, camera, location or otherwise - have been a part of our lives for years, and are only increasing day by day.

Beware of your video games console - Microsoft's Xbox One and its attached Kinect sensor keep track of the people in a room so it can detect who is present and load their preferences accordingly, or zoom and pan the camera to make sure everybody is in frame during a Skype call.

Devices

Now the advent of the so-called Internet of Things (IOT) where billions of devices from coffee makers to microwaves to airconditioners will be connected to the Internet all the time, individual privacy could be affected adversely.

For example, if your refrigerator is smart enough to figure out that you are running short of milk and place an order with the nearest supermarket, someone in that store will know what brand of milk you purchase, the quantity you need for a week and even how you pay for the supplies. That is an inherent danger not posed by ‘dumb’ appliances which cannot communicate even with you, leave alone the outside world.

In a way, this is the price we pay for being connected at all times. Someone, somewhere knows our every movement, our every moment. Keeping away from such prying eyes is a tough balancing act, just like life itself.