Snooping TV.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'm more looking at what is likely in practice. Not what is possible with unlimited resources.

What most seem to be saying would require a total re-write of the TV software. Router too, likely enough. And both with no bugs in the software that would make it rather obvious it had happened.

And are 'they' then going to install this on every TV of this make - or just target those belonging to terrorists, etc?

If they install it on every TV, it will very soon be known about.

If they target known terrorists, why not just bug them with more conventional means?

[dennis]

I don't think spies care what the EU regs say.

[Adam Funk]

"Internet of Trash" or

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Just hack those too. ;-)

The average remote control device is about the least secure thing in the home.

[dennis]

The samsung TVs I have can be update over the air, via the net or with a USB stick.

It would be easy for the government to send an update over the air.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Dunno about everything today. But many computers had a battery to keep the BIOS settings when totally powered down.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

For voice operated commands.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

No - the firewall on your LAN.

Which would need the compliance of those who control the transmitters.

Why not just install a bug in the room?

[dennis]

You could, but every stage is going to be different.

Tell me Dave what do you think is so special about the ones used for west end production?

No that will only tell you which direction they are in.

An array will allow you to isolate sounds from a particular spot.

Its like passive sonar, the early stuff could tell you the direction, the new stuff can tell you the direction and range, the secret stuff can do secret stuff.

Face it dave, acoustic signal processing is far away from stage mics and the CIA isn't interested in bugging stages during a performance, they just record it if they want to.

Smart TVs have mics that are designed to do voice capture and recognition and they cost peanuts compared to the super-duper hand wound Russ Abott mics you think you need.

[dennis]

You are the one claiming to be an expert in what they can and can't do. You are the sound engineer that thinks mics are expensive or useless. Its a wonder that any of the £5 phones ever work using those 2p mics.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You think I don't know which unions are active in the entertainment industry?

But are you then agreeing with dennis that a series of fixed mics would work just as well for a musical etc, and the only reason it isn't done is because of union power?

>

[charles]

I remember my Grundig V2000 VCR had a rechargeable battery - but it was an "extra".

[alan_m]

But its still spying on you when you restore the power!

[alan_m]

With PVR functionality being inbuilt to many TVs and people using them for recording would a random switch on be that unexpected?

[alan_m]

Probably the same cost as the mics in a smart phone that can be used for speech recognition. Or the same cost as a mic in the base station of your cordless phone that can be used to hold a conversation from 10 feet+ away.

[alan_m]

If you are spying you don't need instant recognition of what was being said. You can spend a lot longer post processing a recording using different algorithms to build a composite 'picture' of the conversation.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes. The CIA have wi-fi transmitters covering everywhere on the planet. Pity they didn't make them available to all.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And every performance too.

Thanks for confirming you know even less about mics than you do about mic placement.

Thanks for confirming you know nothing about stereo too.

For a fixed sound source. In theory. So as you conveniently ignored for this to work with mics in a TV, the baddies would have to have their conversation on the marks on the floor that the CIA put there after hacking the TV...

Sonar isn't about capturing intelligible dialogue.

They are both about capturing the spoken word.

Russ Abott, eh? Thanks for confirming your ballpark.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Thanks for confirming you think a microphone is just a microphone.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes. You can spend a lot of time writing all this special software to bug all our TVs. You can then spend a lot of money capturing everything that is said anywhere near them. Then spend even more time and money deciphering everything said. In every language too, obviously.