Samsung Magician gets into Privacy Neglect

From this article, it appears there are some very real issues about privacy that some of the Big Boys (looking at you for sure MS) seem to think we don't care about. I can see where Samsung's Smart products lately could be rolling this out as well such as their Smart Refrigerators and Smart TVs. No tinfoil hat here, but just a touch of respect would be a good way to go to market guys.

Can't say I'm worried as that isn't personal data...IP, device ID and number of drives...though the IP can be traced to you of course. But an IP is pretty easy to get if you want anyway.

...am I missing something?

What do you determine respect is for consumers? They tell you as highlighted. Sure most people don't read that, but, is it really their problem or ours for not reading it?

EarthDog said:

Can't say I'm worried as that isn't personal data...IP, device ID and number of drives...though the IP can be traced to you of course. But an IP is pretty easy to get if you want anyway.

...am I missing something?

What do you determine respect is for consumers? They tell you as highlighted. Sure most people don't read that, but, is it really their problem or ours for not reading it?

Click to expand...

Very simply, in the Agreement there is verbatim mention of ‘connected devices’ when installing the Magician software. Connected devices can include smart phones, tablets, WiFi equipment, and plenty more devices that also have identities, some with more private detail than others. In the very real world we live in hacking/tunneling for info is a pretty lucrative pastime. And if Samsung isn’t storing any received data, why bother gathering it?

So I don’t think allowing my privacy to be more or less a matter of high-tech thieves’ ability to maraud around the Net until they explore the Samsung server. I’d rather it be more about me saying I’ll select an alternative if I don’t want to play in their sandbox. If they respect my business, they’ll attempt to keep it. Yes, I know, a kid in Kowloon can find out a ton about me. Why make it easy?

I agree, but I've had that discussion once or twice here. If you use the Search function with my name and the keywords "privacy" "rant", "tinfoil hat", and perhaps "bat$h1t crazy" my objections to that sort of thing are legion by now. I anticipate things getting worse before/if they get better in the privacy field.