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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

#461

Post by october_sky »

Kneecaps07 wrote: post #451
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.

You can just get a smart TV and don't connect it to your network. They still have HDMI ports so you can connect whatever you want.

This is what I do. Bought a Samsung, never connected it to the network, and just use HDMIs. I've never had an issue with it

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

#462

Post by turc1656 »

ajxs wrote: post #175
lrem wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That's honestly outrageous to the point of scandal. Aside from the point that these are expensive devices, these are devices that you own. You, the owner, should be able to control them to a complete degree.

I'd agree with you but the user agreement that you sign when turning on the device the first time states they can do shit like this.

EULAs are an entirely separate problem, though.

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

#463

Post by somehnguy »

alwayslearning0 wrote: post #400
somehnguy wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the past I would have agreed with you on the poor quality of smart TVs. My Roku TV shatters all those expectations however, its fantastic. Great UI, plenty fast, no quirks I have found, and updates regularly. I specifically bought a smart TV with Roku instead of whatever software Samsung/Sony is doing for these reasons.

I guess you ignored all the parents where they said that Roku sells your data.

I don't really care, it doesn't affect me in any negative way. I get a TV at a reduced price and they get paid for making great software. My TV doesn't have a camera or microphone so what...they fingerprint what is watched to provide better suggestions for future content? Yeah, cool with me.

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

#464

Post by celticmusic »

mikeryan wrote: post #50

This is a pretty open secret within the industry. Geographic data can be provided via setup (a lot of TV's ask for a zip code on setup) or usually simply via GeoIP lookup. Dig a bit deeper and you get into service provided by Samba TV and or Inscape and you can find that they're sending back frames of video in a lot of cases to track what you're watching. This data is becoming a huge mechanism for subsidizing TV sale…

and this is why I don't allow my televisions to be smart. blocked at the network level.

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

#465

Post by non-entity »

obmelvin wrote: post #117
mikeryan wrote: post #50

This is a pretty open secret within the industry. Geographic data can be provided via setup (a lot of TV's ask for a zip code on setup) or usually simply via GeoIP lookup. Dig a bit deeper and you get into service provided by Samba TV and or Inscape and you can find that they're sending back frames of video in a lot of cases to track what you're watching. This data is becoming a huge mechanism for subsidizing TV sale…

Roku enabled TVs very clearly send back frames of what you are watching. I've been watching YouTube casted via chromecast plugged into HDMI (NOT the built in chromecast, I have verified multiple times) and the Roku will give me a full width toast saying to press `*` to watch the full movie or some similar contextual option I was pretty put off the first time this happened. That said, I don't even know if I looked thr…

I'm really curious about this now, I wonder if there is some sort of way to sniff the the data / packets / whatever being sent and try to decode it

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

#466

Post by bradstewart »

driverdan wrote: post #124
lrem wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I had the same thing happen. I rooted my Kindle and kept it in flight mode to avoid tracking and updates. After not using it for months I recharged it and when I turned it on it had auto updated to the latest version, killing root. So not only did mine exit flight mode it somehow re-enabled updates and updated itself.

Not sure about Kindles, but with the super cheap Fire Tablets, Amazon basically tells you "this device is subsidized by ads". You can pay a small fee ($15 IIRC) to remove them permanently.

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

#467

Post by MattLeBlanc001 »

mrbonner wrote: post #66
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.

My Samsung SmartTV randomly turns on itself. Sometimes, we can't turn it on and I have to remove the batteris from the remote, plug them back then it works. The UI is sooo sluggish. I just wish they make a dump TV with superior image quality and let the other streaming devices handling the "smart" features. I will not buy another Samsung electronic product.

Could it be that someone in your household or a neighbor is connected to your network and using an app (there are loads) turn your TV on/off?

I used to joke with my brother and turn his TV on/off, he went crazy thinking the TV is broke.

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

#468

Post by derefr »

dooglius wrote: post #164
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…

Uh, wouldn't the same thing happen as you enter a dead zone, or go underground? I'd sure hope that my phone isn't at risk of exploding in those circumstances...

No, because you don't have line-of-sight to 80 different towers in such cases.

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

#469

Post by paulie_a »

chrisweekly wrote: post #242
sjwright wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe insurance companies could be our ally here. Warn them of the risks and get them to ensure all hospital TVs do not get internet access.

There go the already-terrible tv options in hospital rooms.

After spending a significant amount of time in the hospital I found a portable router, Android TV/Chromecast and a universal tv remote to be really useful

They are in my go bag now for when I have to go last minute and get checked in

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

#470

Post by TremendousJudge »

sjwright wrote: post #350
oger wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Pi-Hole is good to have in every household. Takes minutes to set up and makes sure that queries to unwanted domains end up in the land of /dev/null

A pi-hole only works against adversaries that rely upon DNS, or haven't been coded to connect directly to "trusted" public DNS servers. (I'm almost astonished that advertising networks haven't switched to using raw IP addresses everywhere.)

You could probably very easily make a list of the "evil" IP addresses if that happened
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