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Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

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

#191

Post by gdwatson »

yummypaint wrote: post #101
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.

Were you not able to return it?

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

#192

Post by greggman2 »

smileybarry wrote: post #83
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…

> 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…

My Sony Smart TV is crap and I will never buy another Sony TV. Yes it runs android. It's slow to respond to input. Sometimes when I'm guessing it needs to page out code it can take 5-30 seconds before u can actually use it. It's crashed in the middle of watching shows and I mean the TV is being used as a dumb tv with input from an external source and suddenly android reboots. It also covers the home screen with ads for shows/games/movies. If possible my next TV will just be a 60inch monitor

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

#193

Post by banana_giraffe »

gdulli wrote: post #103
mopsi wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Probably.

Though, it's only a small step for it to report home which WiFi network is the strongest, even if it never connects, for a Google App on the TV to know who I am.

Not that it matters a ton to me. I just don't want another vector for ads, and you can bet that an always on connection will be used to tell me what streaming services the TV can offer me this week if I'd only feed it my WiFi password.

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

#194

Post by baroffoos »

greggman2 wrote: post #192
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…

My Sony Smart TV is crap and I will never buy another Sony TV. Yes it runs android. It's slow to respond to input. Sometimes when I'm guessing it needs to page out code it can take 5-30 seconds before u can actually use it. It's crashed in the middle of watching shows and I mean the TV is being used as a dumb tv with input from an external source and suddenly android reboots. It also covers the home screen with ads f…

Our Samsung smart tv is super slow as well. It seems just smart tvs in general are awful.

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

#195

Post by gbear605 »

bubblethink wrote: post #118
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…

>I have about 400% more trust of Microsoft and Sony than I do of random smart tv manufacturers This is a really weak trust based argument. Sony put rootkits on cds (different division of sony, but still). MS has been fighting their users forever now. Ultimately, none of these trust based arguments work. If you care about privacy, use kodi, new pipe etc. Don't try to pick overlords. That's a losing battle.

I trust them to keep their products relatively secure from hackers, not to not use my data.

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

#196

Post by Springtime »

ghettoimp wrote: post #132
yummypaint wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you want a TV, is there any alternative? We got a new TV last year and I (joe shmoe average user) didn't see any that weren't smart.

NEC sell 4K resolution large displays on their store [1] (not affiliated but someone in a HN topic noted them). Should be said that while they appear to not feature smart TV capabilities (they're intended more for retail/enterprise use) they lack HDR local dimming which is something to consider.

As for not connecting smart TVs to Wi-Fi I read in a recent HN comment [2] that theirs connected without consent automatically to the first available unsecured Wi-Fi it found, sometime later. Seems some TVs are being extra sneaky with this.

[1] https://www.necdisplay.com/category?category=displays

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21010777

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

#197

Post by travisporter »

sailfast wrote: post #137

Has anyone successfully hacked any of these TVs to disable the smart features? I would pay some money for this kind of firmware patch on a future purchase. It seems crazy that the software is so terrible and yet nobody has found a way to disable it.

This would be great! Ifixit should show us how to remove or isolate the 5g/WiFi chip. Makes me wonder- is there a transparent faraday gage solution?

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

#198

Post by jerrysievert »

sowbug wrote: post #116
prawn wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disabled autoupdates on everything after a smart TV whose dashboard I'd laid out to suit me, auto-updated and insisted on dashboard apps that I never wanted and couldn't delete or hide. Got an Apple TV and have not touched the smart TV features since.

Sounds like Vizio. Five years now and I still re-delete the Yahoo Finance app every couple months.

I once connected my vizio tv to the wifi. ended up having to change the wifi password, since there was no way to forget the network on the vizio.

haven't had an update since, and not upset about that.

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

#200

Post by WWLink »

brightrooms wrote: post #170

Not just tvs. All appliances are getting "smart". Refrigerators, washers, etc are or will track you too. You'll have the convenience of connecting to your fridge to see what you need to buy at the supermarket. Eventually, the fridge will just send you notifications of things you need to buy. Very convenient, but the fridge manufacturer will also know what you eat, when you shop, where you shop and everything you do i…

5 years ago I bough the cheapest side-by-side fridge Best Buy had. It is a $900 whirlpool OEM Amana. It's as dumb as the refrigerator my parents had 20 years ago. :D No complaints here! It works great!
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