Samsung newest smart TVs all come with voice recognition functionality allowing users to command the TV to switch to Netflix, turn on ABC or switch off entirely.

This all seems good, but in the terms of service, Samsung declares that anything said when the microphone is listening might be stored and shipped to third-parties, including private information.

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When a TV is in the living room, this makes conversation a lot less private, considering how broad the voice capturing software could be, taking in any sort of noise.

Samsung has confirmed the microphone only wakes up to specific commands and will show up on the screen notifying the user it's listening. Still, it's a little creepy to see the 'microphone on' notice and to have to stop your conversation.

The TV manufacturer also claims encryption and dictation software will be able to root through most of the private conversation automatically, only sending off relevant snippets of commands to third-parties.

It's part of the 'always-on, always-connected' movement by smart home providers looking to collect and send voice data to other smart home devices. The goal is to make the home fully optimized to the user's voice and behavior patterns, but it comes at the expense of privacy in the home for many.

Samsung isn't the first firm to share voice data. Siri, Google Now and Cortana all store voice data for over a year and use the voice commands to improve the experience for the next customer. The same thing is done with customer service.

The TV listening is a bit too much for some people, however, since it automatically listens in while Siri, Google Now and Cortana standby for user commands.

Similar concerns were raised when Microsoft announced the Kinect for Xbox One would be always-on and potentially always watching the user for movement, something that creeped-out a lot of users and eventually lead to the Kinect's removal.

Tagsterms of service, recording, Privacy