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Who said it was always on?

They can't guarantee what you or anyone in range of the microphone will say while giving the TV a command, which gets sent off to be processed.

That's enough to warrant the warning.

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You are correct, but if you can turn it on by voice, then it constantly has to be listening when plugged in. The problem isn't that it accepts voice commands. It's that the microphone data is processed remotely, and there is no way to control when it listens.

As with laptop webcams, it probably not so much that it's always on, but that it can be turned on at any time without you knowing.

Which is why I unplugged the microphone and webcam on mine (Lenovo X201).

if video but not audio surveillance freaks you out, a little piece of black electrical tape goes a long way. that includes your phone's front-facing camera..

blu-tack works fine on the laptop too.

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