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.

--
*Velcro - what a rip off!*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake
On Lan "magic packet".

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)

WOL is tricky across the internet but it is possible, getting past
firewalls and NAT is the biggest problem. Not sure what you can do
via uPnP that is designed to blow holes in firewalls. Anything here
with the uPnP feature gets it disabled.

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.

Probably under software control. The TV piece a day or so ago had a
TV running an "app" that appeared to do voice to text.

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?

That's more of problem.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 10/03/2017 13:19, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake
On Lan "magic packet".

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)

WOL is tricky across the internet but it is possible, getting past
firewalls and NAT is the biggest problem. Not sure what you can do
via uPnP that is designed to blow holes in firewalls. Anything here
with the uPnP feature gets it disabled.


I believe the way it was done was to fake standby by altering the LEDs
to show standby even if the device is on the network, so no WOL needed.
Of course, you'd see it on the lan.

In article ,
Chris Bartram wrote:
WOL is tricky across the internet but it is possible, getting past
firewalls and NAT is the biggest problem. Not sure what you can do
via uPnP that is designed to blow holes in firewalls. Anything here
with the uPnP feature gets it disabled.


I believe the way it was done was to fake standby by altering the LEDs
to show standby even if the device is on the network, so no WOL needed.
Of course, you'd see it on the lan.

So first, you'd need to download and install special software to the TV to
get the LEDs to show what you want?

--
*He's not dead - he's electroencephalographically challenged

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 13:57:25 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Chris Bartram wrote:
WOL is tricky across the internet but it is possible, getting past
firewalls and NAT is the biggest problem. Not sure what you can do
via uPnP that is designed to blow holes in firewalls. Anything here
with the uPnP feature gets it disabled.


I believe the way it was done was to fake standby by altering the LEDs
to show standby even if the device is on the network, so no WOL needed.
Of course, you'd see it on the lan.

So first, you'd need to download and install special software to the TV to
get the LEDs to show what you want?

Aren't we expecting a new Wikileak anyday soon with the code of how it
was done?

Nick

In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
So first, you'd need to download and install special software to the TV to
get the LEDs to show what you want?

The TV downloads updates regularly. You'd just have to fool it into
loading some hacked update instead of the genuine thing. That could
be done by poisening your DNS entries or intercepting the update
traffic. With good security, these things would be difficult (but
not impossible). However, such appliances are well known for appalling
security. Another way would be to exploit a buffer overrun or similar
in some the the media decoding software, and providing a hacked film
or whatever that causes execution of embedded code via this mechanism.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
So first, you'd need to download and install special software to the TV to
get the LEDs to show what you want?

The TV downloads updates regularly. You'd just have to fool it into
loading some hacked update instead of the genuine thing.

Going to be a pretty major hack, I'd say. Have 'they' really got
programmers writing this new software for every single telly on the market?

Odd how long it took them to get into a locked iPhone only a few months
ago.


That could
be done by poisening your DNS entries or intercepting the update
traffic. With good security, these things would be difficult (but
not impossible). However, such appliances are well known for appalling
security. Another way would be to exploit a buffer overrun or similar
in some the the media decoding software, and providing a hacked film
or whatever that causes execution of embedded code via this mechanism.

You are assuming it is possible to re-programme the device to do all the
things needed to turn it into a covert listening device. Makes you wonder
how so many makers can't write software so the device works as intended.
;-)

--
*Acupuncture is a jab well done*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Friday, 10 March 2017 14:56:32 UTC, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
So first, you'd need to download and install special software to the TV to
get the LEDs to show what you want?

The TV downloads updates regularly. You'd just have to fool it into
loading some hacked update instead of the genuine thing. That could
be done by poisening your DNS entries or intercepting the update
traffic. With good security, these things would be difficult (but
not impossible). However, such appliances are well known for appalling
security. Another way would be to exploit a buffer overrun or similar
in some the the media decoding software, and providing a hacked film
or whatever that causes execution of embedded code via this mechanism.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

I switch off the mains on all my stuff.
Should put a stop to it.

On 10/03/2017 13:57, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Chris Bartram wrote:
WOL is tricky across the internet but it is possible, getting past
firewalls and NAT is the biggest problem. Not sure what you can do
via uPnP that is designed to blow holes in firewalls. Anything here
with the uPnP feature gets it disabled.


I believe the way it was done was to fake standby by altering the LEDs
to show standby even if the device is on the network, so no WOL needed.
Of course, you'd see it on the lan.

So first, you'd need to download and install special software to the TV to
get the LEDs to show what you want?

Something like that, but if you compromise the firmware, you can
download what you want, and make the LEDs do whatever you want. You only
have to look at what OpenWRT can do with domestic routers.

In article l.net,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
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.

Probably under software control. The TV piece a day or so ago had a
TV running an "app" that appeared to do voice to text.

Yes - think I saw that. Wouldn't a spy be suspicious if their TV suddenly
turned on and appeared to be running some sort of prog they didn't expect?

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?

That's more of problem.

I'd guess they have some magic software that enhances speech. Same as the
one they use to read a distant numberplate from a grotty VHS tape.

Perhaps the BBC could use it on SS GB? ;-)

--
*Always borrow money from pessimists - they don't expect it back *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 10/03/2017 13:53, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

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?

That's more of problem.

I'd guess they have some magic software that enhances speech. Same as the
one they use to read a distant numberplate from a grotty VHS tape.

Perhaps the BBC could use it on SS GB? ;-)


What makes you think they have grotty mics?
I would think they have an array of mics so that they can detect sounds
better and they would also be able to subtract the signal from the
speakers relatively easily.

In article m,
dennis@home wrote:
I'd guess they have some magic software that enhances speech. Same as the
one they use to read a distant numberplate from a grotty VHS tape.

Perhaps the BBC could use it on SS GB? ;-)


What makes you think they have grotty mics?

Have you any idea how much decent mics cost?

I would think they have an array of mics so that they can detect sounds
better and they would also be able to subtract the signal from the
speakers relatively easily.

Yes of course. For a stage performance you merely hide the mics inside the
speaker arrays. No need for any on the actual stage. It can all be done
with clever software.

--
*Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 10/03/2017 15:07, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article m,
dennis@home wrote:
I'd guess they have some magic software that enhances speech. Same as the
one they use to read a distant numberplate from a grotty VHS tape.

Perhaps the BBC could use it on SS GB? ;-)


What makes you think they have grotty mics?

Have you any idea how much decent mics cost?

A few pence!
And I really do mean they cost a few pence.


I would think they have an array of mics so that they can detect sounds
better and they would also be able to subtract the signal from the
speakers relatively easily.

Yes of course. For a stage performance you merely hide the mics inside the
speaker arrays. No need for any on the actual stage. It can all be done
with clever software.


You could use a microphone array at the edge of the stage if you could
get technicians with enough of a brain to put them in right.

Don't assume you know anything about signal processing just because you
worked in TV. It wasn't exactly needed for such a simple job.

Amazon appear to have their echo working quite well in a home
environment and the whole thing retails for £50.

On 10/03/2017 13:53, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


Yes - think I saw that. Wouldn't a spy be suspicious if their TV suddenly
turned on and appeared to be running some sort of prog they didn't expect?

With PVR functionality being inbuilt to many TVs and people using them
for recording would a random switch on be that unexpected?


--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 12/03/2017 12:26, alan_m wrote:
On 10/03/2017 13:53, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


Yes - think I saw that. Wouldn't a spy be suspicious if their TV suddenly
turned on and appeared to be running some sort of prog they didn't
expect?

With PVR functionality being inbuilt to many TVs and people using them
for recording would a random switch on be that unexpected?



It doesn't actually matter as it wouldn't switch on in the first place
as far as anyone in the room is concerned.

On Sun, 12 Mar 2017 14:49:13 +0000, dennis@home wrote:

With PVR functionality being inbuilt to many TVs and people using
them
for recording would a random switch on be that unexpected?

It doesn't actually matter as it wouldn't switch on in the first place
as far as anyone in the room is concerned.

That depends. The PSU in our Panasonic has relays that click as it
powers up, this includes its 0300 firmware update check. The set
looks off, I'm pretty sure the standby LED stays red as well. It
doesn't flash green as it does during a full power up start or orange
when it's set to record (via HDMI to the PVR).

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 10/03/2017 13:19, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake
On Lan "magic packet".

If the TV has been hacked to do spying it doesn't need to do any of the
standard ways of WOL, etc.
It may just sit there pretending to be off while recording what's said
and sending it later.

The CIA/hacker decide what it does not the manufacturer and they can do
more or less what they like to hide its working.

If they have hacked the TV they may well have hacked the router too.
It could spoof another MAC address while spying so it wouldn't appear in
the routers tables as the TV but say, for example, the smart stat.

Even if you write your own code there are ways to put code into the
system without you knowing unless you code in hex. There was a
demonstration of how to get a C compiler to put code into programs
without the user knowing a few years ago.

"dennis@home" wrote in message
web.com...
On 10/03/2017 13:19, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake
On Lan "magic packet".

If the TV has been hacked to do spying it doesn't need to do any of the
standard ways of WOL, etc.
It may just sit there pretending to be off

it can't "pretend" to be off the LAN, that fact will be determined by your
router, based upon whether it is receiving any packets from it, or not

tim

In article ,
Jethro_uk wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:32:52 +0000, tim... wrote:

"dennis@home" wrote in message
web.com...
On 10/03/2017 13:19, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake On
Lan "magic packet".

If the TV has been hacked to do spying it doesn't need to do any of the
standard ways of WOL, etc.
It may just sit there pretending to be off

it can't "pretend" to be off the LAN, that fact will be determined by
your router, based upon whether it is receiving any packets from it, or
not

tim

Unless they have the capability to nobble your router first ?

If they can do that, might as well just nobble your laptop too and use the
mic on that. Far more likely to be of use than one in a TV.

--
*Is there another word for synonym?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 11/03/2017 11:00, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Jethro_uk wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:32:52 +0000, tim... wrote:

"dennis@home" wrote in message
web.com...


Unless they have the capability to nobble your router first ?

If they can do that, might as well just nobble your laptop too and use the
mic on that. Far more likely to be of use than one in a TV.


What makes you think they don't?

There have been some attacks on the internet that do exactly that and
use the camera too. These are script kiddies not spies.

"Jethro_uk" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:32:52 +0000, tim... wrote:

"dennis@home" wrote in message
web.com...
On 10/03/2017 13:19, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake On
Lan "magic packet".

If the TV has been hacked to do spying it doesn't need to do any of the
standard ways of WOL, etc.
It may just sit there pretending to be off

it can't "pretend" to be off the LAN, that fact will be determined by
your router, based upon whether it is receiving any packets from it, or
not

tim

Unless they have the capability to nobble your router first ?

there is no suggestion that they can do that

most routers don't have the capacity for software updates once they have
been released

they are a "throw away and buy something new" product, when standards change

tim

On 11/03/17 11:57, tim... wrote:


"Jethro_uk" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:32:52 +0000, tim... wrote:

"dennis@home" wrote in message
web.com...
On 10/03/2017 13:19, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake On
Lan "magic packet".

If the TV has been hacked to do spying it doesn't need to do any of the
standard ways of WOL, etc.
It may just sit there pretending to be off

it can't "pretend" to be off the LAN, that fact will be determined by
your router, based upon whether it is receiving any packets from it, or
not

tim

Unless they have the capability to nobble your router first ?

there is no suggestion that they can do that

most routers don't have the capacity for software updates once they have
been released

I think all the routers I have owned have had updated software.
#
Maybe th TP-link didn't.

they are a "throw away and buy something new" product, when standards
change

No, thats yours your laziness.


tim








--
All political activity makes complete sense once the proposition that
all government is basically a self-legalising protection racket, is
fully understood.

On 11/03/2017 11:57, tim... wrote:


"Jethro_uk" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:32:52 +0000, tim... wrote:

"dennis@home" wrote in message
web.com...
On 10/03/2017 13:19, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake On
Lan "magic packet".

If the TV has been hacked to do spying it doesn't need to do any of the
standard ways of WOL, etc.
It may just sit there pretending to be off

it can't "pretend" to be off the LAN, that fact will be determined by
your router, based upon whether it is receiving any packets from it, or
not

tim

Unless they have the capability to nobble your router first ?

there is no suggestion that they can do that

most routers don't have the capacity for software updates once they have
been released


Hmm, every router I have owned has had the ability to be updated. Most
of the later ones over the internet or locally (how do they get ddwrt on
them if they can't be updated?).

There have been many attacks on routers and they are being actively used
in DDOS attacks.

Many routers have the default password and can be hacked by using a
script on a web page very easily.

Even if you have a good password you can be got by a drive by attack if
you have used a browser to login to your router and not terminated the
session as the router won't ask for the password.
Need I go on?

On 11/03/2017 11:57, tim... wrote:


"Jethro_uk" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 17:32:52 +0000, tim... wrote:

"dennis@home" wrote in message
web.com...
On 10/03/2017 13:19, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:59:23 +0000 (GMT), Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

Neither does the windows PC here but it'll wake up when sent a Wake On
Lan "magic packet".

If the TV has been hacked to do spying it doesn't need to do any of the
standard ways of WOL, etc.
It may just sit there pretending to be off

it can't "pretend" to be off the LAN, that fact will be determined by
your router, based upon whether it is receiving any packets from it, or
not

tim

Unless they have the capability to nobble your router first ?

there is no suggestion that they can do that

most routers don't have the capacity for software updates once they have
been released

IME that is far from true - I have seen very few that don't support some
kind of firmware upgrade capability. Whether it ever gets used is a
completely different matter though.





--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 2017-03-10, 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?

If the TV can be voice controlled, it must be able to separate speech
in the room from stuff coming out of the TV itself, right?

In article ,
Adam Funk wrote:
If the TV can be voice controlled, it must be able to separate speech
in the room from stuff coming out of the TV itself, right?

Think there's a difference from recognising a clear command to
understanding all speech.

Although I've never actually tried the voice activated side.

--
*The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 10/03/2017 13:55, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk wrote:
If the TV can be voice controlled, it must be able to separate speech
in the room from stuff coming out of the TV itself, right?

Think there's a difference from recognising a clear command to
understanding all speech.


Unlike for voice command processing, the TV does not need to understand
the "bugged" speech - only upload it.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 10/03/2017 18:33, John Rumm wrote:
On 10/03/2017 13:55, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk wrote:
If the TV can be voice controlled, it must be able to separate speech
in the room from stuff coming out of the TV itself, right?

Think there's a difference from recognising a clear command to
understanding all speech.


Unlike for voice command processing, the TV does not need to understand
the "bugged" speech - only upload it.



The TVs tend not to understand the speech and do the same as apple and
M$ ie. the upload it to a server for recognition.

So if you want to listen in you can hack the server as long as the user
is using the voice recognition.
If they have disabled voice recognition in the menus then you need to
hack the TV.

On 10/03/2017 18:42, dennis@home wrote:
On 10/03/2017 18:33, John Rumm wrote:
On 10/03/2017 13:55, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk wrote:
If the TV can be voice controlled, it must be able to separate speech
in the room from stuff coming out of the TV itself, right?

Think there's a difference from recognising a clear command to
understanding all speech.


Unlike for voice command processing, the TV does not need to understand
the "bugged" speech - only upload it.



The TVs tend not to understand the speech and do the same as apple and
M$ ie. the upload it to a server for recognition.

Most of them seem to do a bit of trigger processing, so they know when
to start uploading, then do the grunt work in the cloud.

So if you want to listen in you can hack the server as long as the user
is using the voice recognition.
If they have disabled voice recognition in the menus then you need to
hack the TV.

Which was the object of the exercise being discussed I thought?

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 10/03/2017 13:55, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk wrote:
If the TV can be voice controlled, it must be able to separate speech
in the room from stuff coming out of the TV itself, right?

Think there's a difference from recognising a clear command to
understanding all speech.

Although I've never actually tried the voice activated side.


If you are spying you don't need instant recognition of what was being
said. You can spend a lot longer post processing a recording using
different algorithms to build a composite 'picture' of the conversation.





--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 10/03/2017 13:55, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk wrote:
If the TV can be voice controlled, it must be able to separate speech
in the room from stuff coming out of the TV itself, right?

Think there's a difference from recognising a clear command to
understanding all speech.

Although I've never actually tried the voice activated side.


If you are spying you don't need instant recognition of what was being
said. You can spend a lot longer post processing a recording using
different algorithms to build a composite 'picture' of the conversation.

Yes. You can spend a lot of time writing all this special software to bug
all our TVs. You can then spend a lot of money capturing everything that
is said anywhere near them. Then spend even more time and money
deciphering everything said. In every language too, obviously.

--
*Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson" *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 12/03/2017 13:21, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

If you are spying you don't need instant recognition of what was being
said. You can spend a lot longer post processing a recording using
different algorithms to build a composite 'picture' of the conversation.

Yes. You can spend a lot of time writing all this special software to bug
all our TVs. You can then spend a lot of money capturing everything that
is said anywhere near them. Then spend even more time and money
deciphering everything said. In every language too, obviously.


Why do you suppose they collect all SMS messages, to do nothing with them?
Why did we have to build in ways of remotely intercepting calls on SystemX?
If you are a person of interest then the cost is not really going to matter.
If you are of no interest then you don't cost much.

On 12/03/2017 13:21, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 10/03/2017 13:55, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk wrote:
If the TV can be voice controlled, it must be able to separate speech
in the room from stuff coming out of the TV itself, right?

Think there's a difference from recognising a clear command to
understanding all speech.

Although I've never actually tried the voice activated side.


If you are spying you don't need instant recognition of what was being
said. You can spend a lot longer post processing a recording using
different algorithms to build a composite 'picture' of the conversation.

Yes. You can spend a lot of time writing all this special software to bug
all our TVs. You can then spend a lot of money capturing everything that
is said anywhere near them. Then spend even more time and money
deciphering everything said. In every language too, obviously.

You have just given some control freaks an orgasm ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

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Dave Plowman wrote:

wondered if any of the computer savvy types could explain a few
things I've observed with my voice activated Samsung TV.

[Tinfoil hat mode on]

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

It could be programmed to look invisible when "off".

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)

It could have a WakeOnLAN function, this would of course require your
router to also be hacked to enable directed subnet broadcasts, or the TV
could quietly poll a CIA server when it's "off" and ask if they'd like
it to turn on in snoop mode.

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.

LEDs can lie, e.g. laptop cameras can be enabled without turning on the
camera LED, black tape over the lens works.

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?

once the audio arrives to the CIA's server farm they can throw all the
audio processing they've got at the muffled audio to clarify your bomb plot.

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
Dave Plowman wrote:

wondered if any of the computer savvy types could explain a few
things I've observed with my voice activated Samsung TV.

[Tinfoil hat mode on]

1) If it is in standby, it no longer appears on my LAN.

It could be programmed to look invisible when "off".

only by not sending any packets

which would defeat the point if the snooper wanted to actually receive what
was being said

tim

tim... wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

It could be programmed to look invisible when "off".

only by not sending any packets

So it deletes a couple of GB of stuff from flash that you'll not notice
(the Channel5 app, old recordings of Grand Designs) records the audio
and then uploads it later while you're streaming X-Factor.

"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...
tim... wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

It could be programmed to look invisible when "off".

only by not sending any packets

So it deletes a couple of GB of stuff from flash that you'll not notice
(the Channel5 app, old recordings of Grand Designs)

If something deleted some of my saved recordings I'd bloody well notice

But in any case, these are smart TV's they don't have a store of recorded
stuff

records the audio and then uploads it later while you're streaming
X-Factor.

That'll be a three moth wait in my case (and no that's not relevant to the
choice of program)

tm

On 11/03/2017 09:00, tim... wrote:


But in any case, these are smart TV's they don't have a store of
recorded stuff

So you can't update the firmware on your smart TV as there is no space
that can be written to?

On Sat, 11 Mar 2017 09:09:25 +0000, Jethro_uk wrote:

On Sat, 11 Mar 2017 09:00:58 +0000, tim... wrote:

But in any case, these are smart TV's they don't have a store of
recorded stuff

My LG can store stuff picked up via it's tuner on an USB device (memory
stick or HDD) if connected.

My Samsung (spit) too.



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"Jethro_uk" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 11 Mar 2017 09:00:58 +0000, tim... wrote:

But in any case, these are smart TV's they don't have a store of
recorded stuff

My LG can store stuff picked up via it's tuner on an USB device (memory
stick or HDD) if connected.

that's an external device, there is no guarantee that you will find one

either when you want to record the stuff nor that it is still there when you
want to upload it

tim