WikiLeaks Report of CIA-Hacked Samsung TVs Sparks Class-Action Complaint

Last week’s WikiLeaks disclosure that the CIA worked secretly with U.K. authorities in 2014 to hack Samsung smart TVs and turn them into covert microphones (see 1703070047) sparked the first known complaint Tuesday, that from a Long Beach, New York, resident who alleged the voice recognition feature on Samsung smart TVs violates federal privacy statutes. Joshua Siegel bought several Samsung smart TVs “and kept them in personal and private areas of his home, including his bedroom and living areas,” said the complaint (in Pacer), filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, the district where Samsung Electronics America is headquartered in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. Siegel was unaware his family’s “private conversations in their home could be hacked by third parties due to Samsung’s reckless and/or negligent failure to protect that private, sensitive data and recordings,” said the complaint, which seeks class-action status. The “degree” of the company's “lack of adequate protection” was revealed publicly when WikiLeaks said Samsung smart TVs “were in fact being used by outside parties to spy on Samsung customers’ private conversations,” said the complaint. Samsung declined comment Tuesday. Samsung responded to the WikiLeaks report a day later with a statement that it was “urgently looking into the matter,” and that “protecting consumers’ privacy and the security of our devices is a top priority at Samsung” (see 1703080014).