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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)

#181

Post by IshKebab »

serf wrote: post #21
IshKebab wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That quote doesn't show Samsung's thoughts on the risk of hacking at all, and it shouldn't remind anyone of 1984. It's just a statement of how all voice recognition currently works.

>It's just a statement of how all voice recognition currently works. Amazon has said on numerous occasions that no data transfer occurs without a trigger word hitting the mic -- a feature that was a main point when discussing the safety of having an always-on internet-connected mic in the house. As for whether or not they're telling the truth, I don't know; but trigger-words have always been a feature that Amazon lov…

Yes of course. I don't get why that affects the privacy policy though. There are occasional false positives and you still might say something sensitive after the trigger word.

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

#182

Post by hn23 »

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…

Well, if you have Alexa in your home...what is the difference? Alexa and all these 'smart' gadgets call home. You have a microphone that is always ON. Recordings are stored and manually analyzed by subcontractors of Amazon. There is no fancy AI. Why shouldn't the $Agency use this channel as well?

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

#183

Post by ohithereyou »

craftinator wrote: post #48
ohithereyou wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CIA is not the only intelligence agency that the US has. Furthermore, most of what the CIA does should be the duty of the State Department. On a more pedantic point, shutting down the CIA is the ultimate in oversight - you don't have to watch for crimes from an organization that does not exist.

The operations of the CIA would just shift to another agency. Do you really think they would just throw away all personnel, equipment, and data, and cancel all operations?

During that shift a comprehensive review takes place of each action and operation as the responsibility for it is transferred. This happens all of the time when agencies are absorbed or transfer responsibilities and is a cornerstone of a functioning, responsive government.

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

#185

Post by jankiehodgpodge »

T3OU-736 wrote: post #163
test6554 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Panasonic, back in the plasma days, used to have a "professional" line. Those were plasma monitors (no built-in tuner, no sound processing at all), and it had modular inputs. There are 3 slots for I/O cards. Can still find the cards on ebay under the "Panasonic HDMI TV Boards" search results.

Sounds like a digital signage screen. I have a few Samsung digital signage displays from 10 years ago that still work perfectly. Amazing picture even by today's standards and very thin.

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

#186

Post by neetodavid »

datenhorst wrote: post #128
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…

In Europe, people have started purchasing so-called public displays instead of Smart TVs and just hook up a Chromecast/Pi/Fire TV Stick to it. This is especially common in countries where one can avoid public broadcasting fees by doing so.

I think I have heard these displays (no smart TV features) referred to as 'Digital Signage' in North America.

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

#187

Post by m_eiman »

ashman5 wrote: post #177
m_eiman wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same experience with my LG. It's perfectly fine as a "dumb" screen. I have an Apple TV 4K and a surround receiver connected to it, and CEC works as intended: when I turn on or off the Apple TV, the LG and the receiver do the same. I was very weary of buying a "smart" TV, but I wanted a 4K HDR one, and the public display market didn't seem interested in providing that. Happily, the LG boots (or resumes, or…

Thanks for this post. I'd like to add that the Vizio PQ65 works the same way when using an Apple TV. I refuse to update the firmware for fear that Vizio will force a change that will require an internet connection.

If you never connect it to the net, there’s never a need for an update - and no way for them to sneak one in behind your back. It’s a sad world we’ve built, isn’t it?

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

#188

Post by JetSpiegel »

datenhorst wrote: post #137
apexalpha wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't now the concept but they're tv's without tuners?

Pretty much, yeah. There's a good range to choose from as well these days: https://geizhals.eu/?cat=monplas

100 inches ranges from 10k to 111k €. I know what to buy if I win the lottery.

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

#189

Post by w7 »

majia wrote: post #99
w7 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't make sense to me. Especially given the GHCQ's break down of Huawei gear finding that Huawei can't even do version control right (they had revisions of firmware with the same version id for the same hardware with different build characteristics), and magically reintroducing vulnerabilities from 2006. Personally I feel that Huawei gear would be ripe for exploitation and then misdirection. I don't get why p…

> 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…

I don't think anything ever gives 100% security. I was simply talking about people thinking proof is needed for justification of the ban.

Anyone using factory shipped firmware for the entire life cycle of a device is negligent. I don't think I've had firmware functionality mismatches with Cisco/Juniper/Arista/etc gear especially since we track hashes and store images locally.

You don't simply leave a gate open because the attacker can scale the walls. I don't see any reason to make it easier for the Chinese government to implant itself in our networking infrastructure. Being able to directly provide and modify Huawei's firmware sans resistance allows them far greater flexibility than what they would have attempting to compromise 's development resources (not that it's impossible, not even remotely saying that).

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