Opinion : Is your TV listening to you?

Regular readers will know of my cautious approach when it comes to the newfangled modern technology that has come to rule moder day life.

Some may call me a Luddite, others may call me sensible, however I’m sure everyone will be shocked at the news article that appeared on a national news site recently headlined ‘Not in front of the telly: Warning over ‘listening’ TV‘.

It seems that some modern televisions are capable of responding to voice commands given by the person watching. What’s worse is that to understand the command given the TV sends the language off to a ‘third party’, probably another computer, somewhere else in the world.

So effectively the TV will be listening in on what is said in the room and could potentially report it to someone else.

What is the world coming to when televisions can spy on the viewers sitting peacefully in their armchairs?

Just think how this technology could be abused. Governments could listen in on ordinary people bringing to life the very worst Orwellian nightmare.

Whatever will the boffins in their labs come up with next? Maybe toasters, alarm clocks and radios will be listening too so they can complete the bugging coverage of our homes.

One thing is for sure, yours truly will never plug any device into the Internet ever again apart from my computer of course, as that’s the only way to ensure there is privacy in ones home.

Thankfully your humble servant does not own a television set so my good self has not been affected by this latest privacy revelation from the newfangled world of electronic technology.

It’s not as if there is much watching on TV these days, indeed if the television had been listening in on what I had to say about some of the programmes that come on then the data transmitted back to the ‘third party’ would probably fall foul of the Obscene Publications Act.

Maybe the listening TV is a good idea after all because those who make the dreadful programmes can finally know what I think of the rubbish they are showing on TV these days.

What do you think?

*My next blog will be published on Friday evening around 8pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.