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My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

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Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#91

Post by maccard »

pwg wrote: post #70
buro9 wrote: post #55

I'm the author and linking to my tweets is a bad idea because they auto-delete after 14 days. For future HN context, as the author I'm reproducing them here in full: My @Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app from https://samba.tv and boy oh boy... this is worse than recent @facebook stuff. From their own privacy policy: https://samba.tv/legal/privacy-policy/ … they track what you w…

Solution: don't ever purchase a smart TV. Preferably, no one would ever purchase a smart TV. When smart TV sales go to zero, the makers would get the message. Sadly, too many folks don't know, or if they do know, they don't care.

Unfortunately if you’re in the market for a high quality TV, your choices are restricted to smart TVs.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#92

Post by buro9 »

wtf42 wrote: post #88
buro9 wrote: post #55

I'm the author and linking to my tweets is a bad idea because they auto-delete after 14 days. For future HN context, as the author I'm reproducing them here in full: My @Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app from https://samba.tv and boy oh boy... this is worse than recent @facebook stuff. From their own privacy policy: https://samba.tv/legal/privacy-policy/ … they track what you w…

>> That I could just plug this into any display panel, including dumb displays. Do you mean Chromecast? You can just plug it into your TV's hdmi port and use netflix/youtube/twitch/mubi android apps to control your streams on TV.

I have a Chromecast but I meant more like an Android TV box, like the Nvidia Shield. To separate the TV display capabilities from the internet capabilities.

Now I know the Shield exists that's what I'll be doing.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#93

Post by devmunchies »

kartickv wrote: post #23
nathanaldensr wrote: post #2

The meme of "if you're not paying, you are the product" is, of course, true, but it doesn't acknowledge the host of cases when you are the product even if you're paying . This guy basically paid to be spied on.

Which is why this meme is a half-truth. Other examples include old-world companies like magazines and banks selling our data despite us paying for the service. Even in areas other than privacy, my bank mistreats me far worse than Internet companies like Google and Twitter. Not to mention that in a multi-sided ecosystem, Internet companies need to keep both users and advertisers happy, so even if you're not paying, yo…

My bank (US Bank) had a Facebook script behind the login wall and was firing requests to Facebook while I was doing private banking.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#94

Post by andybak »

buro9 wrote: post #81
lucb1e wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> linking to my tweets is a bad idea because they auto-delete after 14 days. I feel like you should mention that in your bio, it's not standard and breaks conversations. People should know that they should cite you if they want something to be preserved in conversations or when linking.

The bio space is too short. Meh, I can delete if I want to :)

Much as I hate linkrot I'm not sure we should be using Twitter as a archival source. But people do and you're not making future historians happy. ;-)

So - why are you using Twitter at all if you want to delete stuff so quickly?

You sound the kind of chap who would much prefer their own platform. Heard of these things called "blogs"?

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#95

Post by Filligree »

nickhalfasleep wrote: post #62
djrogers wrote: post #27

> Ideally you run a TV on a different VLAN. Why let it ‘run’ on your network or the internet at all? I’ve never connected my newest TV to my WiFi, and can’t ever foresee a reason to do so. All of the apps I want are running on a connected box I trust to maintain a degree of privacy that I’d never assume from Sony, Samsung, or the like. It’s not as if Netflix or Hulu actually force you to use the embedded TV apps.

I plug my "smart" TV into ethernet now and then to get firmware updates, then unplug it the rest of the time.

Are the updates needed? Was anything broken?

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#96

Post by andybak »

kristianc wrote: post #57

Slightly odd that the final tweet for the OP is a wish for Google to release a Pixel TV. I'm sure a Google TV wouldn't spy on you at all.

I can see OPs point. I'm slightly less concerned about Google than some scrappy little upstart still trying the "growth at any cost" thing.

I actually will probably trust Facebook again once they have been suitably thrashed over past deeds and have had time to reflect on what went wrong.

Both companies will eventually become privacy conscious by necessity and have the resources (hopefully) to enforce it internally.

If they don't then the next revelation or the one after that might be their death knell.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#97

Post by mistersquid »

Jeffrey903 wrote: post #63
djrogers wrote: post #27

> Ideally you run a TV on a different VLAN. Why let it ‘run’ on your network or the internet at all? I’ve never connected my newest TV to my WiFi, and can’t ever foresee a reason to do so. All of the apps I want are running on a connected box I trust to maintain a degree of privacy that I’d never assume from Sony, Samsung, or the like. It’s not as if Netflix or Hulu actually force you to use the embedded TV apps.

I also have a smart TV that I have never connected to the internet, and I never foresee a reason to either. When I want to use apps on my TV, I use a separate streaming box. If in the future there is a software update for the TV with a cool feature I want (unlikely), I would connect it via ethernet temporarily, perform the update, and then disconnect ethernet. I would never connect it over WiFi for fear that it would…

You could use wireless in the same way you use a wire by restricting wireless clients by MAC address, for example.

When you want the IoT device to have Internet access, temporarily relax the restriction.

I did this because my TV is mounted on a wall with a large desk in front and its ethernet port is inaccessible.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#98

Post by wvenable »

nickhalfasleep wrote: post #62
djrogers wrote: post #27

> Ideally you run a TV on a different VLAN. Why let it ‘run’ on your network or the internet at all? I’ve never connected my newest TV to my WiFi, and can’t ever foresee a reason to do so. All of the apps I want are running on a connected box I trust to maintain a degree of privacy that I’d never assume from Sony, Samsung, or the like. It’s not as if Netflix or Hulu actually force you to use the embedded TV apps.

I plug my "smart" TV into ethernet now and then to get firmware updates, then unplug it the rest of the time.

Why do you need firmware updates for a TV not connected?

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#99

Post by lukeschlather »

buro9 wrote: post #60
buro9 wrote: post #55

I'm the author and linking to my tweets is a bad idea because they auto-delete after 14 days. For future HN context, as the author I'm reproducing them here in full: My @Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app from https://samba.tv and boy oh boy... this is worse than recent @facebook stuff. From their own privacy policy: https://samba.tv/legal/privacy-policy/ … they track what you w…

HN replying to myself with some context outside of the tweets. I actually trust stock Android over Samsung, Sony, etc Android. Hence my "if we're going to have Android TV perhaps Google could supply it without the forced add-ons". I see this similar to installing Windows yourself rather than having "Windows with added vendor crap"... like if you know you want Windows, a stock one is better and same with Android. I'm…

Why Android over Linux or MacOS? It feels like at this point, Android and Windows are surveillance systems. If you don't want a surveillance system, you need to go with Linux or MacOS (or iOS.)

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#100

Post by [deleted] »

JasonFruit wrote: post #77
pwg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solution: don't ever purchase a smart TV. Preferably, no one would ever purchase a smart TV. When smart TV sales go to zero, the makers would get the message. Sadly, too many folks don't know, or if they do know, they don't care.

A smart any device, honestly.

[deleted]
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