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Smart TVs like Samsung, LG and Roku are tracking everything

washingtonpost.com

251–260 of 316 posts

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

#251
post #90

I wish that if they are going to insist on making their TVs smart, they would take the time to think about what people who use some of the apps would want. For example, my Samsung has apps that can stream radio, and apps for Spotify and other music services. But it evidently failed to occur to anyone at Samsung that since these are audio apps and do not need to use the screen while playing, I might want to blank the…

I mean, how are you going to see the ads if the screen is blanked? It's not that they didn't think about it, they did, they just went for the "feature" that benefitted them the most.

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

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPS provides high quality RTC signals. So the TV could update its time with high accuracy via GPS and countdown a timer.

Thankfully the majority of people use their TV indoors.

All you need is to glimpse 1 satellite for a short while if you're looking for a roughly accurate time. You need 3 to get a position fix, but fewer will still give you the time.

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

#254
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it is time to wrap our TVs and other consumer electronics in faraday tape. I can't wait until my microwave tells the manufacturer how often I'm reheating my pizza.

Oh... thats where you are going wrong, when reheating pizza it is best to use a pan, although the base may get crispy. The oven works quite well too. Sure they take longer but tastes so much better!

I can't wait for my iot pan and stove respectively tell their manufacturers how often i'm reheating pizzas. Maybe my iot stove fan will get there first. All way after my iot fridge ofc called home to tell me to buy more pizza.

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

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds amazing, a free 5g connection with every tv! cellular connection is still prohibitively expensive in many parts of the world.

Yes, but this connection will be restricted to connect only to Google's cloud.

then you just run one of their cheapest vms as a proxy/router?

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

#256

Here is the actual Samsung screen that you can't opt out of: https://twitter.com/fulldecent/status/1067258123545661441

Actually you can opt out nowadays. For Samsung smart tvs:

Menu > Smart Hub > Terms and Conditions

Inside there will be several terms of these tracking companies. Go inside each and all of them and check the box:

    I don't agree with these terms
There. No consent for track.

Have not tested network wise if the tracking persists, but in theory, removing consent should mean they can't collect it.

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

#257
post #215

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.

> They are analyzing the feed. Scary. More likely just looking at the title of the file and matching that against themoviedb.

no. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_content_recognitio...

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

#259

Earlier this year my company pitched anonymization solution for smart TV and smart home appliances to LG and Samsung representatives in Korea. Their reaction to a proposal was, to put it kindly, terrifying and highly defensive. They said they are doing nothing wrong, no data has been leaked snd that there is no future for our solution, sensing huge discomfort. Quite evident they have zero interest to gamble status qu…

You pitched them a way to make less money?

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

#260
post #58

A “Dumb TV” is something I’m exploring developing. There is a gap in the market for a TV with a great panel, no internet connection, and only the processing strictly required for various types of signal processing and format conversion. The closest available solutions are large commercial monitors that cost an arm and a leg.

Did you do any market research? You can very easily go to any store and still buy dumb TVs. I don’t know where people get the idea that 100% of tvs are smart tvs, but that is false.
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