Samsung reveals potential for smart TVs to eavesdrop

An employee of Samsung Electronics Co. checks its SUHD 4K TVs on display outside the venue of a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. has started domestic sales of high-end televisions powered by its Tizen operating system and plans to add washing machines, fridges and other appliances to the range of products that use the software. AP

SEOUL, South Korea — Watch what you say in your living room. Samsung’s smart TV could be listening. And sharing.

The South Korean electronics company says voice recognition technology in its Internet connected TVs can capture and transmit nearby conversations.

The potential for TVs to eavesdrop is revealed in Samsung’s smart TV privacy statement.

For the voice command feature to work, third party software translates speech into text and sends the command back to the TV.

Samsung says data collection related to voice commands is aimed at improving TV performance but users can disable it.