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The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

scotthelme.co.uk

131–140 of 209 posts

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone on HN recently floated the idea of a company that would make quality, non-smart electronics and appliances that would also be easily serviceable. I wish this existed and would pay significantly more for products like this. To address your question, I think they’re all “smart” now. I ended up getting a low-end Samsung 4K a few months ago and it’s been good so far. It starts up very quickly, maybe 1-2 seconds.…

> I’m just waiting for the day when all TVs require a working internet connection and we have to start hacking their hardware and software to protect our data. These days won't come. What will happen instead is TVs will start coming with embedded SIM cards for cellular data connection (prepaid or otherwise negotiated between TV vendors and telcos), and then we won't have any choice in the matter as consumers, short o…

> These days won't come.

These days are already here. My TCL bootloops if it doesn't have an internet connection to download ads from, and if you call support, they'll happily walk you through getting it connected to the network.

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone on HN recently floated the idea of a company that would make quality, non-smart electronics and appliances that would also be easily serviceable. I wish this existed and would pay significantly more for products like this. To address your question, I think they’re all “smart” now. I ended up getting a low-end Samsung 4K a few months ago and it’s been good so far. It starts up very quickly, maybe 1-2 seconds.…

> I’m just waiting for the day when all TVs require a working internet connection and we have to start hacking their hardware and software to protect our data. These days won't come. What will happen instead is TVs will start coming with embedded SIM cards for cellular data connection (prepaid or otherwise negotiated between TV vendors and telcos), and then we won't have any choice in the matter as consumers, short o…

In the US that won't affect your warranty for SIM-unrelated issues. And most other rich countries have stricter consumer protection laws.

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m just waiting for the day when all TVs require a working internet connection and we have to start hacking their hardware and software to protect our data. These days won't come. What will happen instead is TVs will start coming with embedded SIM cards for cellular data connection (prepaid or otherwise negotiated between TV vendors and telcos), and then we won't have any choice in the matter as consumers, short o…

> These days won't come. These days are already here. My TCL bootloops if it doesn't have an internet connection to download ads from, and if you call support, they'll happily walk you through getting it connected to the network.

I meant (almost) all TVs, as GP, not a few of them.

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#134
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never add your WiFi credentials you your TV. It doesn’t let you remove them so you’re only option is to create a “dummy” network (ex: phone as a hotspot) and switch to it. Also, watch out for clueless^helpful friends and relatives who try to “fix” your TV’s WiFi.

IIUC, you're saying there's no obvious way to make the TV stop using the Wifi network once you tell it the SSID + password. Couldn't you just change the wifi password?

It will continue trying to connect to your SSID. Failing of course, but it will still pollute your channel with garbage packets.

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#135

I begrudgingly bought a 'Smart TV' just because I wanted a 4K monitor. But I use it as a dumb monitor and watch app-based content through an Apple TV. At least I'm reasonably sure the Apple TV will be updated for 5-10 years, and is a lot more disposable than a giant TV. My last TV worked great for about 12 years. No way Panasonic would've kept supporting it that long. Honestly, the thing I hate most about smart TVs,…

I went with RokuTV. They have the best long term support track record for old hardware. 4K Roku hardware is powerful enough. You don't get wedded to a platform that will be abandoned in four years. I have a Samsung smart TV for work tasks that has the most annoying behaviors built into it. It always insists on "identifying" an HDMI source which it can't do because I've never put it onto my network. Roku doesn't appea…

Roku may well be the least worst option, but it does exfiltrate data.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21657930

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21614851

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#136
post #50

I begrudgingly bought a 'Smart TV' just because I wanted a 4K monitor. But I use it as a dumb monitor and watch app-based content through an Apple TV. At least I'm reasonably sure the Apple TV will be updated for 5-10 years, and is a lot more disposable than a giant TV. My last TV worked great for about 12 years. No way Panasonic would've kept supporting it that long. Honestly, the thing I hate most about smart TVs,…

> ... I wanted a 4K monitor. To all the folks reading at home... I would remind everyone that a TV is not a monitor. I got a relatively inexpensive LG 43in TV to use as a desktop monitor. I've had issues. Beyond the usual "make sure your graphics card actually supports 4K" and such, you also need to take some time to dig through the TV settings when you are using it on a PC. In particular, you definitely want to turn…

I'm calling what I want for my living room a 'monitor'. I want a TV that's a monitor, basically, not the other way around.

For my computer, I use a 32" LG 4K monitor, and it's great. No 'smart' features found there.

But I can't find a 4K monitor in the 42-50" range that has multiple HDMI inputs that is not incredibly pricey (e.g. broadcast/commercial realm) I could use in my living room.

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently started looking for a new TV since my old “dumb” TV is starting to have image issues and they all seem to be “smart” these days. Seems like manufacturers have slashed prices by adding adware to the GUI of TV’s. Needless to say, I’ve been incredibly frustrated with my search.

I can't speak for their latest and greatest but the LG TVs I've used running webOS (Oled and LCD) work fine without ever being connected to a network. I have a C7P panel I've connected via Ethernet a couple times to update the firmware and it has continued to work offline just fine. They also support CEC so if the devices you're plugging into them support CEC you can just put the TV remove into a drawer and not worry…

> I have a C7P panel I've connected via Ethernet a couple times to update the firmware and it has continued to work offline just fine.

You may want to be careful with this. On Amazon Kindles when you connect to WiFi it downloads ads and will keep showing those same ones forever if you never reconnect and let it fetch newer ads. Seems the TV doesn't do it yet, but it could be added in a firmware update.

Unrelated, what do you even need firmware updates for on what is effectively a dumb TV?

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#138
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're referring to a UK TV licence, it doesn't matter what kind of monitor you're using; it's about what you watch (live TV, whether over the air or online, or any use of BBC iPlayer). Watching TV via a computer and a dumb monitor still requires a licence. https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one (Edited to add: Conversely, merely owning a TV does not require a license; if you're only using it as a com…

Unfortunately not. Having a tv set in the house here requires a licence even the thing is out of order

Interesting! I'm curious where "here" is, if you're happy to say...?

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#139
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone on HN recently floated the idea of a company that would make quality, non-smart electronics and appliances that would also be easily serviceable. I wish this existed and would pay significantly more for products like this. To address your question, I think they’re all “smart” now. I ended up getting a low-end Samsung 4K a few months ago and it’s been good so far. It starts up very quickly, maybe 1-2 seconds.…

Never add your WiFi credentials you your TV. It doesn’t let you remove them so you’re only option is to create a “dummy” network (ex: phone as a hotspot) and switch to it. Also, watch out for clueless^helpful friends and relatives who try to “fix” your TV’s WiFi.

My wife connected it to our wifi the other day ... I almost lost it.

Re: The Impending Doom of Expiring Root CAs and Legacy Clients

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone on HN recently floated the idea of a company that would make quality, non-smart electronics and appliances that would also be easily serviceable. I wish this existed and would pay significantly more for products like this. To address your question, I think they’re all “smart” now. I ended up getting a low-end Samsung 4K a few months ago and it’s been good so far. It starts up very quickly, maybe 1-2 seconds.…

> I’m just waiting for the day when all TVs require a working internet connection and we have to start hacking their hardware and software to protect our data. These days won't come. What will happen instead is TVs will start coming with embedded SIM cards for cellular data connection (prepaid or otherwise negotiated between TV vendors and telcos), and then we won't have any choice in the matter as consumers, short o…

The cheaper route they'll go through first is connecting to any open wifi network (many do this now), refusing to work without a connection (some do this), and pulling a connection over HDMI (will be more common with future devices; presumably next gen consoles).
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