On 3/10/2017 12:59 PM, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Just been listening to a radio piece about those Samsung smart TVs the CIA
etc have apparently hacked so they can listen to what's going on in the
room. So wondered if any of the computer savvy types could explain a few
things I've observed with my voice activated Samsung TV.

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.
2) I'm not aware of a method of bringing it out of standby over the
internet. (it can be set to look for software updates etc overnight,
though)
3) The LED on the front of the set changes colour between standby and on.
Think most would notice if it was on when meant to be off.
4) Can the really very cheap microphone fitted to such things
differentiate between the speech or music etc from the TV's own speakers
just a few inches from it and pick up intelligible speech from the other
side of the room?

Perhaps spies always have their TV switched on with the sound turned down.
Despite things like bugs having been around for many a year. Obviously,
their spy degree didn't include having a radio etc on loud when discussing
something naughty.

TV manufacturers are not going to fit nice big batteries or
supercondensers inside. For a wifi-connected TV, it's going to be inert
not long after being switched off at the wall, even if its firmware has
been hacked.

Of course if you are tracking someone seriously, you might take notice
if their phone or TV gets switched off.