Samsung are as bad as Sony

Mohammed Hassan found a keylogger (spyware that monitors what you type) on his fresh-from-Samsung laptop.

As is expected, the 300-billion dollar chaebol lied through its teeth and claimed it didn't know what was going on. They tried to confuse Hassan with technobabble (and presumably other typical corporate dodge tactics) and shifting blame to Microsoft. This probably worked for many of their previous complaints but Hassan is an IT security professional (i.e. this kind of thing is his home turf) and he eventually got the company to cave and take responsibility for their actions. Hassan: "Samsung wanted to gather usage data without obtaining consent from laptop owners."

more here: http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/sec/2011/040411sec1.html

So how do consumers avoid problems like Samsung's keyloggers and Sony's rootkits? At least with Sony, you had to play their CDs to get your computer infected. But your passwords, credit card numbers and personal details can be monitored by any Samsung laptop you use.