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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

#201

Post by Thorrez »

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…

>Even given all that, Sony TVs are probably still the tamest smart TVs out there.

The article seems to say Vizio TVs are better for your privacy than other TVs. The article says Vizio TVs describe ARC in 100 words and people must select accept or decline.

That page you linked to says

>However, you can accept or decline Sony's Bravia privacy policy, as well as one for Samba TV, the ACR technology Sony uses. You have to scroll through the entire Bravia policy before you'll see the options for turning off various data-gathering features, including Sony Smart TV Services, Program Recommendations, Product Improvements, and Advertisements, as well as Samba TV.

This sounds like a harder process.

Vizio was the only company willing to have an employee be interviewed by The Washington Post. Samba didn't even reply to their emails.

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

#203

Post by propogandist »

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…

Have you tried installing pi-hole on your network?

I recently did it and was stunned at the amount of phoning home from Roku, both telemetry and ads to serve.

After blocking the calls home with PiHole my Roku's performance also improved considerably

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

#204

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

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 concur on leveraging console's(Xbox One/PS4) for smart TV functions due to better security and hardware; But the power consumption in using console as smartTV equivalent should be higher.

Xbox One X has excellent power efficiency, it is my preferred way to gaming as I'm extremely conscious about the power consumption of my devices; but Smart TVs do consume lesser power for what they do.

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

#205

Post by philliphaydon »

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…

My Panasonic runs Firefox os. I use it for Netflix cos every android box I’ve tried is slow and laggy.

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

#206

Post by Diesel555 »

Roku scares me when I'm watching movies on my Rapsberry Pi. They are .mp4 files. I'm not using their software at all... and about 2 minutes in I get a pop-up "You can view this move elsewhere at XYZ." How do they know what movie I'm watching? They are analyzing the feed. Scary.

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

#207

Post by Diesel555 »

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…

Roku scares me when I'm watching movies on my Rapsberry Pi. They are .mp4 files. I'm not using their software at all... and about 2 minutes in I get a pop-up "You can view this move elsewhere at XYZ." How do they know what movie I'm watching? They are analyzing the feed. Scary.

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

#208

Post by Scoundreller »

Scoundreller wrote: post #71
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.

Or have a GPS and realize that it’s been 12 months since their last mandatory update and lock you out.

Changing your computer’s time to the past used to be a great way to prolong 30 day trials or pay-by-the-year software in the 386 and 486 days.

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

#209

Post by moepstar »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #154
Buttons840 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Apparently we now need HDMI condoms. Do such things exist?

Most probably there will be a market for HDMI cables with Ethernet specifically disabled - so, IMHO, there'll be sellers for it :)
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