Did you know that Samsung can brick TVs remotely if they’re stolen?

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

When you buy a piece of technology, especially technology that can be connected to the internet, it’s important to remember that the companies that make the tech have some control over it. This was shown off perfectly after Samsung bricked stolen TVs recently.

After a distribution center in South Africa was robbed, which included the theft of Samsung TVs, it was revealed that the TVs were useless because Samsung managed to remotely disable them.

The feature is called TV Block and it basically works like this – when a Samsung product is stolen, the serial number is logged with the company. Once that product connects to the internet, Samsung servers automatically identify the product and disable it.

In a release from Samsung, Mike Van Lier, Director of Consumer Electronics at Samsung South Africa, notes:

“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.”

Like many things when it comes to technology, this is a great thing on the surface, but it’s also a perfect example of connected technology having caveats that some users may not fully understand.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• A plane in Seattle had to be evacuated after a phone caught on fire – guess who made the phone
• Samsung’s new foldables already have 800,000 preorders in one country alone
• T-Mobile customers: You can now get a free year of Apple TV+ – here’s how
• HBO is finally doing something about its crappy TV apps