“1984” inspired technology contravenes Danish law

Your private conversations in your living room could end up in the hands of third parties

A warning issued by Samsung to its customers – which informs them recordings carried out by the voice-activated control function of their new smart TV could be passed on to a third party – does not comply with Danish law.

The warning is written in a privacy policy booklet accompanying the television: “Please be aware that if your spoken words 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."

Does not meet requirements
Thomas Munk Rasmussen, a partner at the law firm Bech-Bruun who is a specialist in personal law, has told Berlingske that the warning does not meet the requirements of Danish law.

“Samsung is far from meeting the requirements set by Danish law for explicit consent," he said.

"Simply writing in a manual that if you use the TV set you risk that private conversations will be recorded and passed on is not enough."

READ MORE: Danish firm to compete with file-sharing giants

Slow progress in data protection
While experts express concerns over the possibility for US intelligence agency NSA to access the information stored by Samsung, the company announced in a press release that the information it receives from customers is encrypted.

Meanwhile, the EU is working on tighter regulations to be set in all member countries with regards to personal data security. However, this project has been on the agenda for several years now and progress is still slow.                        

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