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The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

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Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#111

Post by astrange »

test6554 wrote: post #87
jmalkin wrote: post #73

I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast, or preferably, a laptop hooked up to a TV. And I've lost a lot. My TV is slow. When I try to control the volume, sometimes I have to wait multiple seconds. And things stop working all the time and require a reboot. I hate the damn thing. It even comes with bloatware for some reason, games I'll never play that it insists on updating…

I have resisted the urge to buy a new tv for 11 years. I own the same 48" non-smart Sony I've always had. I have always felt like the grass would be greener if I were to buy one of those 65" LG OLED tvs, but thank you for setting me straight. This old TV is 5 inches thick, but it turns on in 2 seconds. I hooked an amazon fire tv into one HDMI port. I also have a sonos "connect" hooked up to the audio-out so that I ca…

I have one of those LG OLED TVs and everything about it is just fine. It's perfectly fast; the OS is based on Palm webOS, so it's okay, but you still don't have to touch it. They are regularly for sale at less than half retail price if you wait six months.

The only ergonomic problem is devices fighting each other over HDMI CEC; if I turn it on to use the Switch, then the Bluray player likes to turn itself on, force the TV to switch to it, and then start autoplaying a disc!

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#112

Post by astrange »

IntelMiner wrote: post #110
elvecinodeabajo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are LED 'dumb' TV's.

Where? Are they cost and quality competitive with "Smart" TV's?

They won't be quality competitive with newer cheap smart TVs, which are all very good - they support 4K/wide color and have dynamic backlighting good enough for HDR.

If you insist on a dumb TV and are in Silicon Valley I'll sell you my Panasonic 1080p TV from ~7 years ago. It's got an IPS panel!

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#113

Post by 9HZZRfNlpR »

tomc1985 wrote: post #85
agotterer wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also hate my Samsung smart tv. On a fresh “turn on”, before I can load any app I have to wait for the tv to “sign in”. This can take up to 20 seconds.

I have a Samsung smart TV and the best thing I ever did was not accept the EULA and never plugged it into the network

If anyone's made the mistake I did and did accept it, there is some factory reset type of thing in the menus. After that, don't accept anything and never give it access to the internet.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#114

Post by nfoz »

9HZZRfNlpR wrote: post #109

CIA is able to spy but Samsung doesn't even get screen mirroring work on my TV. Thankfully, I disabled the internet connectivity and forget about it, it turned out to be a good thing maybe. Where to get modern TVs screen wise but dumb ones? Monitors go up to only somewhat limited dimension's. Anyone have ideas? Buy the screen from LG and build yourself?

To find modern dumb TVs, you usually need to look at the "commercial" or "business" lines (sometimes called "digital signage). Companies make them hard to find.

I have a 55" 4K LG dumb tv and I'm very happy with it: https://www.lg.com/ca_en/commercial-tv/lg-55UX340C-public-di...

It's just a tv. It turns on and off quick. The remote-control is simple. The only downside is it only has 2 HDMI inputs, and it doesn't do HDR.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#115

Post by JamesBarney »

rrix2 wrote: post #106
majia wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't get why people are so hung up on proof though. The reason you look for proof is not that it gives you 100% security. It is the process of finding proof that helps us understand how secure a product is and what vulnerabilities need to be addressed. GHCQ's through examination of Huawei devices found problems with version control, and Huawei promised to fix those problems. This is how security could improve. I…

These also sound like the sort of problems that could be solved without a global sales ban, people seem to really like the Hand of the Market for stuff like this when it's not down nationalist lines.

This isn't why they were banned. They were banned for conducting corrupt espionage, violating the Iran sanctions, and lying about it to federal authorities.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#116

Post by chopin »

xvector wrote: post #59
stcredzero wrote: post #8

On the Max Headroom TV show, it became illegal for people to turn off their TVs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_(TV_series)#Plot Would it be outlandish for the tech industry to lobby that Smart TVs and computers be given a 911 style emergency calling system, then for emergency dispatchers to have access to surveillance information, then for such devices to be required to be turned on all the time?

I mean it's not like your TV ever truly turns "off", is it? A lot of them power on at least the red/green LED light showing that it's "off" and who knows what else.

I have a hard switch on the AC outlet for exactly this reason.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#117

Post by icebraining »

9HZZRfNlpR wrote: post #113
tomc1985 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Samsung smart TV and the best thing I ever did was not accept the EULA and never plugged it into the network

If anyone's made the mistake I did and did accept it, there is some factory reset type of thing in the menus. After that, don't accept anything and never give it access to the internet.

My interest in PKD was never based on his futurology, but I have to say he totally nailed the scene where Joe Chip argues with his apartment door. "Never accept anything your TV proposes" could be straight from Ubik!

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#118

Post by elvecinodeabajo »

IntelMiner wrote: post #110
elvecinodeabajo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are LED 'dumb' TV's.

Where? Are they cost and quality competitive with "Smart" TV's?

My Samsung SyncMaster T27B300 is a good example. LED TV without "Smart" software.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#119

Post by raxxorrax »

jmalkin wrote: post #73

I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast, or preferably, a laptop hooked up to a TV. And I've lost a lot. My TV is slow. When I try to control the volume, sometimes I have to wait multiple seconds. And things stop working all the time and require a reboot. I hate the damn thing. It even comes with bloatware for some reason, games I'll never play that it insists on updating…

> I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast

But you wouldn't get the security service from the CIA. They should just do tests like they do for paternity.

Tests have concluded to certainty of 99,9% that jmalkin is no domestic terrorist.

Maybe they would even have a printable version you could pin on your walls.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#120

Post by pmontra »

GuiA wrote: post #77
jmalkin wrote: post #73

I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast, or preferably, a laptop hooked up to a TV. And I've lost a lot. My TV is slow. When I try to control the volume, sometimes I have to wait multiple seconds. And things stop working all the time and require a reboot. I hate the damn thing. It even comes with bloatware for some reason, games I'll never play that it insists on updating…

Don't buy it. (Older TVs of excellent quality can be found second hand for very cheap)

I bought a LG smart TV because it was only 50 Euro more expensive than the non smart one and its display was much better. I never configured its WiFi so it's as dumb as any other TV set but I enjoy the screen.
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