South Africa’s recent unrest is still very fresh in everyone’s memory. Riots, looting, politicians being banned from Twitter — it was an exciting time. Samsung isn’t quite finished with the events of July 2021 — the South Korean company has activated a system that will remotely lock “…all Samsung television sets looted from our Cato Ridge distribution centre in KZN since the 11th of July 2021.”
Can… can Samsung do that?
The ‘feature’ is called Samsung Television Block and it does exactly what it says on the tin. When the TV is connected to the internet — and most of them need a connection for initial setup — the serial number is queried. If it matches one of the sets stolen during South Africa’s looting spree, it’ll be locked. All of the TVs’ functions will be suspended. But they’ll have to be connected to the internet first. If that step’s optional, well..
This is a bit of a kick in ribs for those who acquire fancy new TVs illicitly, and we might even feel a little gleeful about it, but it’s also a little worrying that the company has this capability for its TVs. Not because they might abuse it (though that’s certainly a concern) but because it seems to have already been built into the set. You’d think that they’d advertise the fact so, at the very least, users could deactivate the set themselves in the event of theft. It’d certainly make them less compelling targets during a burglary.
Samsung’s director of consumer electronics Mike Van Lier said, “In keeping with our values to leverage the power of technology to resolve societal challenges, we will continuously develop and expand strategic products in our consumer electronics division with defence-grade security, purpose-built, with innovative and intuitive business tools designed for a new world. This technology can have a positive impact at this time, and will also be of use to both the industry and customers in the future.”