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    Samsung reveals potential for smart TVs to eavesdrop

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments810 Views
    Kim Hyun-seok, head of Samsung Electronics' TV business, poses with its SUHD 4K TV during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. (Ahn Young-joon)

    By Youkyung Lee, Technology Writer

    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) --

    Watch what you say in your living room. Samsung's smart TV could be listening. And sharing.

    Voice recognition technology in the South Korean company's Internet connected TVs can capture and transmit nearby conversations.

    The potential for TVs to eavesdrop is revealed in Samsung's smart TV privacy policy available on its website.

    "Please be aware that if your spoken works 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," the policy said.

    For the voice command feature to work, third party software translates speech into text and sends the command back to the TV.

    Users can give commands to the TV's built-in microphone such as "find me an action movie," which causes the TV to search as instructed. As the TV collects voice commands, it also transmits other information as its individual ID.

    Samsung said data collection is aimed at improving TV performance but users can disable it.

    It is not the first time that smart TVs sparked privacy concerns. In 2013, a user revealed that LG Electronics smart TV was sending information about his viewing habits back to the company without consent and without encrypting data.

    LG has also experimented with displaying targeted ads on its smart TVs, which requires collecting and utilizing user data, such as their location, age and gender.

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    Tags:Samsung



    Actor Anthony Head, known for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Ted Lasso,” dies at 72

    Friday, June 5, 2026
    Anthony Head arrives for the European premiere of 'The Iron Lady' on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Jonathan Short, File)

    Anthony Head, the suave, smooth-voiced British actor known for roles in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Ted Lasso," has died, his family said Friday. He was 72.

    Head's daughters, actors Emily and Daisy Head, told the Press Association news agency that the actor passed away due to complications from pneumonia.

    The stage and TV performer became well known to British audiences in the 1980s as one half of a will-they, won't-they romantic couple in a series of ads for Nescafe Gold Blend instant coffee. The ads were later re-shot for a U.S. audience for Taster's Choice.

    Head achieved wider fame as librarian Rupert Giles, mentor to the title character in the cult-favorite supernatural series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which ran from 1997 to 2003.

    He most recently played Rupert Mannion, the villainous ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham's character Rebecca, in "Ted Lasso."

    "Our grief is far greater than the hole he has left behind, but we know his legacy will live on, in the shows he was a part of, and in the audiences that love them," his daughters said. "How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us."

    Head was born in London on Feb. 20, 1954 to Seafield Head, a documentary filmmaker, and Helen Shingler, an actor. His older brother, Murray, is also an actor.

    Other notable roles included playing Geoffrey Howe, the deputy to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played by Meryl Streep, in the Oscar-winning "The Iron Lady."

    Head portrayed a prime minister himself in the sketch comedy show "Little Britain," as well as King Uther Pendragon, the father of Prince Arthur, in the "Merlin" TV series. He also appeared in "Motherland," Manchild," and "Silent Witness," along... Read More

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