Samsung has revealed that its televisions can be remotely disabled if the company finds out the units have been stolen. The feature is called the “Television Block Function” and Samsung says it was recently activated after a number of Samsung television sets were stolen from a company warehouse. The technology is already preloaded on all Samsung television products and ensures that the sets can only be used by the rightful owners with a valid proof of purchase. For the TV Block Function to work, Samsung needs to know the serial code of the stolen unit. When the set connects to the Internet, it checks the set’s serial code against a list on Samsung’s servers and disables all functionality if it finds a match. While the feature can be used to help individual consumers whose sets have been stolen, Samsung says it was actually designed for large-scale thefts.
