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Samsung asks users to please virus-scan their TVs
Yesterday on Twitter, Samsung's US support team reminded everyone to regularly—and manually—virus-scan their televisions.
Samsung's team followed this up with a short video showing someone in a conference room going 16 button-presses deep into the system menu of a Samsung QLED TV to activate the television's built-in virus-scan, which is apparently "McAfee Security for TV."
Unsurprisingly, Samsung got immediate pushback on these tweets and almost as immediately deleted them.
This may raise some questions about Samsung's practices and what we as consumers should be expecting of modern devices. The fact that Samsung's malware scanner is McAfee (and that McAfee's only customer for the service is apparently Samsung) raises questions about the real value and intent of the service: is Samsung paying McAfee for what has to be a pretty trivial application, or is McAfee paying Samsung for brand promotion? But even if we skip the brand-related cynicism and take the concept at face value, we are left with a few questions.
Ars reached out to Samsung with the questions below, but the below statement the company provided didn't answer them. The following statement is attributed to Samsung:
Samsung takes security very seriously and our products and services are designed with security in mind. We recently shared information about one of the preventative security features on our Smart TVs, in order to show consumers proactive steps they can take on their device. We want to clarify that this was simply a way to educate consumers about one of the features included in our products and was only posted because we believed that consumers would find it informative.
[...] The best way to keep your big, expensive smart TV safe is never to allow it access to your network in the first place. The consumer electronics space is packed chock-full with inexpensive, high-quality streaming devices that typically have better interfaces and more options than most smart televisions anyway. Roku and Amazon 4K-streaming players both start at less than $50; in the unlikely event one of those becomes compromised, "recycle the bad one and buy a new one, probably from a competing brand" seems like a perfectly reasonable response.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday June 20 2019, @02:57PM (5 children)
GE has these new "smart" bulbs called C.
Here is a video [youtube.com] showing consumers how to reset their C bulbs made by GE.
Are these bulbs really so "smart"?
Do they need virus scanning?
Firmware updates?
I thought light bulbs were supposed to be simple?
Look at what they have become!
Edison would be spinning in his grave!
(but would the spinning generate an AC current?)
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Thursday June 20 2019, @03:08PM (1 child)
Edison's biggest and most successful invention was the electric company.
If you learn a bit more about Edison, you'll find that he'd likely trumpet these bulbs as a huge breakthrough and use whatever means he could to secure exclusive rights to the technology and fight to change light socket standards to *require* the use of such devices.
What's more, he'd likely lobby to force home/building owners to retrofit their existing light sockets, and make the bulbs and sockets not backwards compatible.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday June 20 2019, @03:15PM
Edison would require proprietary bulb sockets. And only Edison brand electricity in order to prevent an unsightly build up of C1 particles.
Q. How many software developers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. None. That is a hardware problem.
Q. How many hardware engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. None. We believe the device driver team can develop a clever patch to resolve the issue.
1"competition" particles which would lead to "innovation" and heaven forbid to lower prices.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday June 21 2019, @02:33AM (2 children)
I doubt it. Edison was a DC advocate. He also put a great deal of effort into trying to discredit and otherwise undermine the adoption of AC since he didn't own the patents on it.
Though the attempt might make Edison spin faster :)
The AC power system the world enjoys today was the result of Nicola Tesla's creative genius and vision. All of it, the generators, the transformers, the motors, etc.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 21 2019, @04:36AM
Execution by the electric chair was invented by Edison. It was the result of his attempts to show how much more dangerous AC was compared to DC. You can find the demonstrations he used to do on YouTube, most famously with elephants.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday June 21 2019, @05:42PM
The rate at which Edison would spin in his grave would be directly related to how magnetic a personality he had.
Which from what I can tell, isn't much.
And also a patent troll before the term was even coined.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.