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Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

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Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#351

Post by chillydawg »

cm2187 wrote: post #346
ghostpepper wrote: post #312

I would love to update my 10 year old 1080p Philips non-smart TV to a 55" or so 4K HDR screen but I don't want any of the smart features. Does anyone know of any manufacturers selling high end "dumb" TVs? For now I'm comfortable using my appleTV but I like the fact that I can disconnect it at any time. I want a TV that will simply display whatever signal it receives without any connectivity required.

As long as you don’t connect it to the internet, can’t do much harm. Though HDMI has evolved into a supper chatty protocol with information going both ways. HDMI doesn’t allow a TV to access the internet connection of a laptop or ps4 connected to it, right?

(UK) my new Virgin media cable box came with a hdmi cable that said "hdmi with ethernet" on the side. It's plugged into my TV (which has WiFi disabled) and as far as I can tell it's not leaking a gateway or anything but it could well be. Regardless: security nightmare.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#353

Post by NLips »

76 wrote: post #335
nerdponx wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's funny about this is that I think this is a legitimate and relatively non-evil use case. It all comes down to lack of transparency/oversight and the option to exercise control as an individual.

They are spying on millions of people without their consent and without telling them about it. In what universe is this legitimate and non-evil?

I believe the parent isn't disagreeing with you.

Breaking down the parent's post:

""" What's funny about this is that I think this is a legitimate and relatively non-evil use case. """ - parent is saying that fingerprinting so the advertisers know who saw the ads is legitimate and relatively non-evil.

It all comes down to lack of transparency/oversight and the option to exercise control as an individual. """ - parent acknowledges that not telling the user and not making it configurable can be problematic.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#354

Post by convivialdingo »

eternalny1 wrote: post #225
derefr wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC there isn't a problem for most of the flight; but right as you're ascending/descending your phone can end up getting a very weak line-of-sight connection to a whole bunch of cell towers at once, which causes a few different problems, but all of which come down to "it makes both your phone, and all the towers, shout really loudly at one-another to try to achieve a circuit." Which, sure, means that there might be…

Do you realize how many people leave their cellular devices on during flight? 2.7 million people fly on airplanes every day. Even if you think the vast majority of them turn their phones off, it's still a huge number of people who don't.

I think a significant percentage of flyers don’t bother with flight mode anymore.

Was on a full plane from CA to TX a while back. During the final landing approach I heard dozens of alerts as the plane got nearer to the ground.

Nobody cared one bit.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#355

Post by odiroot »

pacala wrote: post #119
throw03172019 wrote: post #36

I disabled WiFi on my Samsung TV after they were injecting ads into the home screen. Spend $800 to get ads served in their shitty/slow UI.

Five years from now, 5G will be widely deployed, with a connection density of 1M/sqkm, 1000 times larger than 4G. The TV will connect directly to the 5G network without asking for permission. For your convenience [TM].

We're just gonna start wrapping our TVs in tinfoil, I guess.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#356

Post by lorenzhs »

derefr wrote: post #121
arcticbull wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flight mode exists because the FAA applies unsafe-until-proven-safe methodology to everything flight related (as they should). If flight mode mattered at all planes would be falling out of the sky on the regular, many people just leave their phones on the whole trip. The only reason I turn my phone off is because it wastes a lot of battery as it tries to manage tower hopping the whole time. Planes are getting blasted…

IIRC there isn't a problem for most of the flight; but right as you're ascending/descending your phone can end up getting a very weak line-of-sight connection to a whole bunch of cell towers at once, which causes a few different problems, but all of which come down to "it makes both your phone, and all the towers, shout really loudly at one-another to try to achieve a circuit." Which, sure, means that there might be…

Meh, I don't buy it. A colleague had his phone put in the plane's hold by airport security without being allowed to turn it off. Landed with a whole bunch of "Welcome to !" texts. So not only can you get non-zero reception in flight (maybe only on lower flight levels?), but also it clearly doesn't bother the plane or cause phones to explode (else airport security wouldn't do it).

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#357

Post by trevyn »

sjwright wrote: post #276
rangibaby wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Unscrew the back of your TV, the internal Wi-Fi antennas may well be be easily identified and disconnected. e.g. https://emfaction.userecho.com/communities/1/topics/124-disa...

Fun fact: If the signal is reasonably strong, Wi-Fi will sometimes still work even with the antenna disconnected.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#358

Post by wodenokoto »

freeone3000 wrote: post #161
dangrover wrote: post #154

It is not clear why we should necessarily be suspicious of smart TVs based on the findings here. The lines seem to be blurred between what data is being sent by the TV OS itself versus a third party app that someone may have decided to use during the period that the researchers watched outbound network connections. If someone is using the Netflix app, this necessitates that the TV must communicate with Netflix. How e…

Because it interferes with the idea of a TV being a display. A TV should not have apps. If it does have apps, these apps should not communicate data to the manufacturer. It shouldn't send back data about the operating system because a TV shouldn't have an operating system.

Of course a TV should have an operating system. It needs menu's and options, video and audio codecs, up and downscaling algorithms and many many other things, just to be a dumb TV.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#359

Post by dsenkus »

lrem wrote: post #53
throw03172019 wrote: post #36

I disabled WiFi on my Samsung TV after they were injecting ads into the home screen. Spend $800 to get ads served in their shitty/slow UI.

An acquaintance attempted that with Kindle, by keeping it in flight mode. After some days it popped up a message kindly asking to give it some network access. After a few more days it simply ignored the flight mode and connected to get fresh ads. Edit: I've checked with my wife who has an ad supported Kindle for over a year and keeps it in flight mode for months at a time. It never did that to her. So either Amazon c…

just do factory reset and immediately put it into flight mode. It can't update if it has no wifi password. If you want to update, just do it via cable.

I have couple kindle paperwhites of different generations, and none of them did any unexpected update for years.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#360

Post by siempreb »

> Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

No way! Has that ever been news? It is the first thing that comes to mind when some product 'needs' to be connected to the internet. Sending private data is most likely the only reason a internet connection can be made with the device. All the 'great' software around it is only fluff supporting to lure people sending their private data unknowingly. Do they send microphone and camera data home? Of course, that's the cream. Oh, and do they protect your sensitive data well? Nah, that's not a priority, who cares..

In the past you bought a new tv, and the manufacturer was happy and treated you with respect. Today you think you buy a tv, but tv is actually the secondary feature, you just bought an intrusion device that collects your private life in order to send it to the manufacturer for selling it.

I have a new x-large smart tv which I would never connect to the internet for these reasons. I use a dedicated pc with a good graphics card that connects through HDMI. On my couch I have a wireless mouse and keyboard. With this dead simple setup I cannot only watch regular tv, I can of course do anything you can think of doing on a pc. It also has become my favorite gaming setup.

I think governments should be more active to protect citizens of course. Non-technical people are prey nowadays. I despise this new economy and I'll never ever want to make any money of of it, I'd rather live and die poor.

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