- Users say they have observed LG gaming monitors automatically installing unwanted software on PCs
- LG's terms of service warn that conversations may be “captured and processed” on TV with the latest version of webOS
- The terms say you must now warn guests that they may be recorded “in accordance with applicable wiretapping laws…”
How smart should a smart TV be? According to LG's latest TV terms and conditions, the answer is “not smart enough to comply with wiretapping laws,” because that's now. his liability if LG captures the voice of a guest in your home through its AI voice services. Although the situation with LG monitors seems to be even more dramatic.
As Gamers Nexus reports, some LG monitors appear to be installing adware on Windows PCs without asking permission: in addition to the LG Monitor App Installer, they also install McAfee Scam Detector.
LG's own app requires full access to all system resources, potentially including all your online activity, logins, hardware, location and more, while McAfee has a long history of installing it on devices as 'bloatware', and people don't react positively to suddenly finding it on their PC.
There may be a perfectly innocent explanation for all of this, but when big tech companies keep getting caught doing bad things because they thought they could get away with it, it's no wonder people are assuming the worst.
What's causing consternation regarding smart TVs is Part 6(d) of LG Electronics' new terms of service, titled Voice Recognition and Privacy Compliance.
As Notebookcheck's Hannes Brecher notes, the section states that it is your responsibility to “obtain all necessary consents from third parties whose voices may be captured by the Product and to notify household members and guests that their voices may be captured and processed, in accordance with applicable privacy, wiretapping, and wiretapping laws.”
There are three ways to avoid it. First, you can disable all microphone-based features. Some people won't care, but they can be helpful, especially if they ask for settings they don't know how to find.
Second, you can avoid installing the latest software, but that means you won't receive any security updates, which is important (to protect your privacy, ironically, among other things).
Or you can disable your TV's connection to the Internet so it can't send information, but that obviously makes it less useful and it will. also disable voice controls anyway.
I think the terms and conditions are an attempt to cover corporate ass rather than something sinister: the paragraph above specifically talks about when “a product with voice recognition functionality is used” and “family members, guests, children and passersby” may be overheard; If you choose to activate AI-based voice features, then of course voices will be captured and processed for those features to work.
At the same time, it seems broad enough to allow LG to use people's voices as AI inputs, rather than just an accidental capture. And in the context of what LG is doing with PC monitors (not to mention AI training, ahem, casual regarding consent and copyright), that's concerning, and people online are increasingly intolerant of anything like this, as the responses on the original YouTube video from Reddit and Gamers Nexus have shown.
We have approached LG for comment on these claims and will update the story when we hear back.
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