Smart TVs are more clever than you think N

EW technology is getting more scary.

Apparently, the next generation of BBC iPlayer could listen to people sitting in their front room watching TV and suggest programmes they might want to watch.

This is an extension of electronic advancements already in the marketplace and homes, such as voice operated devices like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant.

I talk to my smartphone, my computer has a voice activated assistant and my Amazon firestick listens and connects.

We take for granted that laptops and tablets collect information from every web search we make, compiling a marketing dossier. Now we go one stage further with a TV that listens in, spies, compiles and equates.

Cyris Saihan, BBC head of digital partnerships, said: “Just by listening to the voices in the room, your TV could automatically detect when there are multiple people in the livingroom, and serve up a personal mix of content relevant to all of you in the room … without anyone having to press a button, sign in and out, or change user profiles.”

He makes it sound delightful but is it another step on the way to Big Brother?

Computers routinely come with cameras built-in for Skype, business conferencing or social messaging.

How long before televisions are fitted with a fish eye lens, as well as bugging devices, that record all activity that happens in the living room? Oo-er, missus. We have got used to a TV being our window on the world. It could soon be that the world will be looking back.

Former FBI Director James Comey admitted he puts tape over the camera on his computer.

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg also covers his webcam with tape. So do I. Better paranoid than a candid camera.

Maybe I should also buy a table cloth for the telly.

How long before televisions are fitted with a fish eye lens, as well as bugging devices, that record all activity that happens in the living room?