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Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#101

Post by yummypaint »

walrus01 wrote: post #33

In my opinion you should not use ANY of the smart features of a "smart" TV. Don't give it your wifi key and don't put it on your LAN. I have about 400% more trust of Microsoft and Sony than I do of random smart tv manufacturers. I also have a fairly high degree of confidence that the xbox one and PS4 software will remain up to date with security patches, and address critical issues quickly. I have no confidence for T…

When i got my samsung smart tv 4 years ago i actually read the EULA and was so disgusted i refused to agree. It lives its life as a computer monitor, and a buggy one at that. I doubt there is a way to update the firmware without agreeing. Moral of the story: dont buy smart TVs.

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#102

Post by codezero »

harry8 wrote: post #75
codezero wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if one day they’ll connect to other TVs that are online to get around the WiFi.

They'll ship with a sim card and connect to mobile.

Yeah saw that mentioned in another thread, that’s much more straightforward and reliable.

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#103

Post by gdulli »

mopsi wrote: post #45
trianglem wrote: post #42

If you don’t want the “smart” features, just never enter your WiFi password.

Sadly, this will only push TV manufacturers harder to implement built-in always-on 5G connectivity that completely bypasses the end user.

Would the TV still be harmlessly anonymous, though? If you never logged into anything? Would there be any vectors to tying usage to you?

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#104

Post by o-__-o »

bitL wrote: post #95
walrus01 wrote: post #33

In my opinion you should not use ANY of the smart features of a "smart" TV. Don't give it your wifi key and don't put it on your LAN. I have about 400% more trust of Microsoft and Sony than I do of random smart tv manufacturers. I also have a fairly high degree of confidence that the xbox one and PS4 software will remain up to date with security patches, and address critical issues quickly. I have no confidence for T…

Agreed. My Samsung TV is not connected to Ethernet/WiFi and I have a quadcore Pentium NUC as a 4k HTPC for interacting with it. I have a full control of what I run on NUC (Ubuntu + Kodi) and TV is just a display. My Marantz is connected to Internet though (used for AirPlay) as it needs updates to its firmware, so there might be some audiophile listening...

Marantz doesn’t report home if you disable reports. I also have never upgraded my marantz receivers

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#105

Post by tekstar »

marcusjt wrote: post #54
tekstar wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently bought an LG OLED as well. I never connected it to my network and never will. It was a dark pattern during setup. The options were to connect via LAN or WIFI, and only by scrolling into "nothing" did a skip option appear. This ImO is the only option and even then I bet it's trying to exhilarate data by like trying to connect to a phone or high frequency audio or something.

"exhilarate" > "exfiltrate"

Autocorrect got me :(

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#106

Post by o-__-o »

wvenable wrote: post #34
AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #2

I had a very nice Sharp Aquos TV for a long time. One of the first reasonably priced 1080p 65" TVs. It had absolutely no "smart" features, which was perfectly fine with me. I have my TV hooked up to a home theatre system and have my devices (PS4/AppleTV/XB1/Nvidia Shield) hooked up to that. I recently upgraded to a LG 4K OLED TV. It's an absolutely gorgeous TV, but, I absolutely lament the "smart" features of this TV…

> My point is, if I can't even do this properly, normal people have a near 0% chance of disabling tracking. The other point is that all these features are advertised on the box (Netflix, Alexa integration, etc) but you can't even use them unless you accept those EULA prompts.

If you don’t accept you can return for a refund. Something tells me lots of ppl accept tho

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#107

Post by jmccorm »

Sharlin wrote: post #44
pimeys wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then you're losing all of the goodies for movies and games, such as proper color space or contrast. Usually the business TVs are anything but good for movies.

But consumer TVs nowadays come with absolutely hideous defaults, with color, contrast and sharpness adjusted to first and foremost compete for attention against other manufacturers on store shelves. It's gotten bad enough that stores now offer adjustment services — for a price, obviously — just to get the picture to look the way it should in the first place!

You’re absolutely right. Commonly referred to as “scorch” mode.

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#108

Post by Buttons840 »

e2le wrote: post #92
smileybarry wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have about 400% more trust of Microsoft and Sony than I do of random smart tv manufacturers. It should be noted Sony's TVs are different than their game consoles in what they collect and do. They run a relatively clean version of Android TV except for "Samba TV", which is yet another piece of show-recognizing (known as ACR) analytics. However, you can apparently decline its privacy policy on initial setup and eve…

I'm not sure creating a network without no internet access is going to be a long term solution. It's entirely likely that they will create future functionality in these devices to cycle through open networks and networks to which they have credentials for until they find one with internet access.

HDMI will share its connection through the cable as well. So if you want to use a Chromecast or a BluRay player, etc, then your TV can get internet through that.

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#109

Post by o-__-o »

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #74
xwdv wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you install firmware updates??

I bought a dumb tv in 2013 that I still use just fine without any firmware updates. It's a screen, it needs no updates.

I plugged in my pre-all-devices-spy 10 year old dumb tv to the network for the first time and now it hounds me for firmware updates.... I always reject because I don’t want it to learn how to spy on me.

Pretty sure my firetv phones my hdmi content home

Re: Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

#110

Post by tannhaeuser »

codezero wrote: post #64
glitchc wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just unplug it from the network. That should get rid of most of it. I have an LG smart TV that has never seen the network. I get no ads, no popups, no features, no EULA, nothing. It behaves like a dumb TV. It was the LG 65UH series from Costco.

I wonder if one day they’ll connect to other TVs that are online to get around the WiFi.

That's the entire point of the 5G rush.
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