Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse • Hacker News Board

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#51

Post by signal11 » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:37 PM UTC

josephcsible wrote: post #3

This technology was used for good this time, but there's nothing stopping it from being used for evil next time. The fact that Samsung is even capable of doing this means you don't have control over your Samsung TV even if you do own it legally.

Samsung’s use of ACR is the other big source of discomfort. That’s some creepy stuff right there. LG has something similar too, but it was off by default in mine.

“Samsung Smart TVs have built-in Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology that can understand viewing behavior and usage including programs, movies, ads, gaming content and OTT apps in real-time.” https://www.samsung.com/us/business/samsungads/resources/tv-...

For context, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/18/you-wat...

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#52

Post by prepend » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:38 PM UTC

itsyaboi wrote: post #37

mrkramer wrote: post #19

"Should a customer’s TV be incorrectly blocked, the functionality can be reinstated once proof of purchase and a valid TV license is shared to serv.manager@samsung.com or click here for more information" Fuck off. This is a wake up call for us to make free and open source Smart TV operating system so we can stop this tyranny.

While I agree that smart TVs are a cancer, I'm confused by your take. Do you have the same opinion towards locking stolen iPhones? If not, why? https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-is-reportedly-disabl...

iPhones are necessarily cloud connected, TVs not so much. Activating my iPhone is something I normally do and provides me value (payment, location services, etc etc) so there’s a natural place.

All this is bloat on a tv.

Also the iPhone bricking requires a police report and has a pretty defined process and I’m not aware of any overreach by Apple to brick phones like this story.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#53

Post by koolba » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:38 PM UTC

netr0ute wrote: post #33

BeefySwain wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This only works until every "smart" device has a cellular modem built in.

Who pays for the cellular plans?

Amazon put a cellular chip in a Kindle over a decade ago. And that was for a device that cost less than $100. One year of advertising and analytics would easily cover the cost in a larger purchase like a TV.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#54

Post by kodah » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

itsyaboi wrote: post #37

mrkramer wrote: post #19

"Should a customer’s TV be incorrectly blocked, the functionality can be reinstated once proof of purchase and a valid TV license is shared to serv.manager@samsung.com or click here for more information" Fuck off. This is a wake up call for us to make free and open source Smart TV operating system so we can stop this tyranny.

While I agree that smart TVs are a cancer, I'm confused by your take. Do you have the same opinion towards locking stolen iPhones? If not, why? https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-is-reportedly-disabl...

I think it depends on who initiates the lock. If a company can choose to arbitrarily lock my device then inevitably it will be misused. In the case of phones it is usually the customer initiating a lock, either from Find My Phone style apps or through the carrier itself.

My TV phoning home doesn't really seem like it accomplishes much, and will likely be misused in the future, not to mention is an entire layer to vectorize in terms of fleet device attacks.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#55

Post by y04nn » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

mrkramer wrote: post #19

"Should a customer’s TV be incorrectly blocked, the functionality can be reinstated once proof of purchase and a valid TV license is shared to serv.manager@samsung.com or click here for more information" Fuck off. This is a wake up call for us to make free and open source Smart TV operating system so we can stop this tyranny.

When you see what the open source community is able to do with entertainment systems I'm sure there is a market for an open source smart TV. But the issue will always be marketing to the customers and brand reputation that will make years to acquire. But sure, done right with quality premium products first, not low cost ones and times, this can be achieved.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#56

Post by Santosh83 » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

The larger question for society is do we even want smart everything? I rarely see this issue debated. Undoubtedly, software enables complex/rich functionality for what were hitherto relatively "dumb" devices, but the same flexibility can also lead to exploits, backdoors, bugs and place too much control in the hands of the manufacturers and many other nameless parties.

The most important aspect here is remote connectivity. Software without remote connectivity may be less correctable, but it is also resistant towards tampering from unwanted directions. With network connectivity the device basically becomes impossible to fully control. In fact, admin control shifts from you, the owner, to someone else on the other side of the planet, unless you want to take a hammer to it.

These issue need vigorous debate. 1. Do we even want every device to become "smart"?, and 2. should smart devices be designed with 24x7 network connectivity requirements?

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#57

Post by drewg123 » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

wait_a_minute wrote: post #36

I bought one of Samsung's smart televisions a couple years ago. I think I paid $1500 for it. Anyway, it started showing me ads and the TV eventually became sluggish less than a month after owning it. Returned it as defective. Ever since that experience, I swore of all smart televisions and will never buy another Samsung television or smartphone again if I can help it.

I bought a high-end Samsung 4K tv in 2015 or so for about $3000. I picked it after a week of research that showed it had the highest quality panel.

After taking delivery of the TV, we noticed it had bright lower left and right corners that we later found out were due to new packaging that pinched the TV and caused most of the TVs in that batch to be ruined. Samsung claimed that the corners were "in spec" and refused to replace the TV. Thankfully the retailer replaced the TV.

I vowed that I'd never purchase another Samsung product. I've stuck to that, but a house I just bought has all Samsung appliances, which I'm not looking forward to.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#58

Post by dmos62 » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

itsyaboi wrote: post #37

mrkramer wrote: post #19

"Should a customer’s TV be incorrectly blocked, the functionality can be reinstated once proof of purchase and a valid TV license is shared to serv.manager@samsung.com or click here for more information" Fuck off. This is a wake up call for us to make free and open source Smart TV operating system so we can stop this tyranny.

While I agree that smart TVs are a cancer, I'm confused by your take. Do you have the same opinion towards locking stolen iPhones? If not, why? https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-is-reportedly-disabl...

Not OP, but I'd say the problem is that someone, doesn't matter if it's the manufacturer, can disable your device remotely or that he has access to it at all.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#59

Post by prepend » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

majormajor wrote: post #12

toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least they’re not scanning your media library against a list of hashes yet. Edit: Ahh, I see from the replies I have had my fill of curiosity for the day.

They are, they're just doing it for advertising, not piracy prevention. https://www.samsung.com/us/business/samsungads/resources/tv-...

Actually it’s kind of odd to me that Samsung isn’t doing this to block child porn.

Since they are already scanning content to sell to marketers it’s odd that they aren’t also scanning it for CP or anything else with a defined set of hashes.

I’d prefer Samsung not do this at all, but if they are scanning for making money, they should scan for public good.

Re: Samsung remotely disables TVs looted from South African warehouse

#60

Post by memco » Tue, Aug 24, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

Teknoman117 wrote: post #46

anonuser123456 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh the tyranny of having to pay…

I don’t have proof of purchase for 90% of the stuff I own. It’s insane to expect people to hang on to receipts for eternity.

Even more fun is that there’s some receipts where the ink fades/rubs off in a matter of days so even though you have the paper receipt you still have no proof of purchase.