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Title: Editorial: Private Funding
Author: Martin Moene
Date: 11 March 2015 20:51:19 +00:00 or Wed, 11 March 2015 20:51:19 +00:00
Summary:
Body:
Recently a large manufacturer of consumer ‘smart’ televisions came under fire when it emerged that the voice recognition feature built-in to the devices was recording the audio and sending it off to some 3rd party for analysis. The company later made clear who the 3rd party was, and also the fact that the devices were using industry standard encryption to send the data, and that the listening feature had to be intentionally activated (i.e., the TV wasn’t always listening). There are similar parallels with a certain well-known search provider using voice recognition for searching – a quick Goo...sorry, search for ‘Ear of Sauron’ should enlighten those not already familiar with this. Such stories aren’t unique, nor are they even new, but it seems that they are becoming more prevalent.
That’s either because it’s happening more often, or because people are starting to sit up and take notice. Or both, of course. It’s different to the idea of the government having an open licence to eavesdrop on all your communications in the name of national security – although that too has become a hot topic in the media. The idea that the consumer electronics and Internet Browser companies might be selling our data for the purposes of either advertisement targetting or just simply reducing the unit cost of their goods is unsettling to many people. And yet, many many more people are happy for that to happen, and freely give their privacy away in return for some free or cheap service that they value more. Which raises the point that if the vast majority of people don’t value their privacy enough to complain about it being eroded, then everyone will lose it. Which is why the fact that these things are hot topics is important.
Of course, in the matter of voice recognition for TVs or searching, if you’re unconvinced that your data is not being mis-used to make someone else money, then at least you’re maybe in a better position than many other people in that you might be able to make your own voice recognition feature and use that, instead of trusting to someone else’s. Perhaps it’s time for another hobbyist electronics revival. If you do, then I expect lots of other readers would be delighted to read about it here!
Notes:
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