Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

krebsonsecurity.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 549 posts

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#241

Post by eproxus »

StumpChunkman wrote: post #84
notatoad wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

reasonably important, if you're never connecting your lg tv to any network, and just connecting it to an AppleTV or something and letting HDMI-CEC control it so you never even see their OS.

Exactly this. And with an Apple TV 4K Ethernet, you've got a bonus Thread border router for smart home devices. I actually didn't even realize that initially, but was very pleased when I found IKEAs latest round of Matter over Thread devices paired nicely with it and my existing Home Assistant + Hue setup.

And if you install Tailscale you can even use it as an exit node to surf from home when you're traveling.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#242

Post by b3orn »

drnick1 wrote: post #135
12_throw_away wrote: post #67

42% of the apps on LG's platform have these quasi-malware SDKs in them? Seems kinda bad, whether it's due to negligence or just pure incompetence? You'd think there might be legal consequences for a corporation that lets their app store turn into a malware delivery system?

It's not "quasi-malware," it is malware.

15 years ago people would've called it spyware.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#243

Post by ChocolateGod »

drnick1 wrote: post #117
ahartmetz wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fine with Linux though :) LG's behavior isn't fine, but their monitors don't install crapware on Linux.

Another win for the Linux security model (software installed and updated manually from vetted repos only).

> software installed and updated manually from vetted repos only

So something most desktop Linux users don't do.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#244

Post by TeMPOraL »

maccard wrote: post #208
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There’s still a world of difference between a MacBook touchpad and a windows one Oddly I've found otherwise (Dell Precision notebook from 2021, and Surface Laptop). It might be macOS's animations and smoothing interfering here, but I've found that my Windows touchpads are much more responsive, especially when swiping between desktops. > The peripherals still need the addons though Ugh, this is annoying. Hardware ve…

On the trackpads - I only ever use my MacBook as a single screen device, so the experience may be different. A long time ago I used it with an external monitor and the experience was very poor compared to windows. > Ugh, this is annoying. Hardware vendors need to be banned from writing lousy, inefficient, unsafe software. Yeah, I commented on the McAfee LG thread but the stuff that comes bundled with hardware is emba…

> Yeah, I commented on the McAfee LG thread but the stuff that comes bundled with hardware is embarassing. I don’t know how Razer, Logitech, nvidia, MSI, asus, etc get away with it. The stuff is awful, even their “good” software.

Well, this is the whole market on its own. It's entrepreneurship. No different than every web SaaS startup trying to capture some entry-level piece of computer use and then constrain it so it interoperates only with their "net of trusted partners".

They get away with it because everyone is happy and making money - the users, notably, are not part of the group here, and have no voice. The users are resources to be exploited. Same as on the web, and on most markets these days.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#245

Post by quotemstr »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #236
12_throw_away wrote: post #67

42% of the apps on LG's platform have these quasi-malware SDKs in them? Seems kinda bad, whether it's due to negligence or just pure incompetence? You'd think there might be legal consequences for a corporation that lets their app store turn into a malware delivery system?

It's all above board though, as you, the user, agreed to the terms & conditions for installing said app. This won't change unless governments create and enforce laws.

It is, though. Why should I not be able to agree, with sufficiently informed consent, to route traffic through a connection I operate via a computer I own using software I've chosen of my own free will to install?

What's the difference between running a Tor exit node and a "residential proxy" except optics?

Look: I'm 100% for banning secret proxies that hide from the user, but stopping people knowingly and voluntarily running these proxies is a violation of fundamental software freedom tenets.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#246

Post by aaron695 »

coldtea wrote: post #216
nikanj wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've seen the ruckus that follows from controlling / curating the app store experience. For example, see the comments at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45017028

That's for a general purpose computing platform that a smartphone is. This is for a fucking TV.

[dead]

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#247

Post by regexorcist »

iso1631 wrote: post #195
ifh-hn wrote: post #161

My question is how would a user know their TV is being used like this? Also this is the reason you down download random crap onto your devices. I have an LG that is connected on its own network with bare minimal apps (netflix, prime, etc) because it's too convenient for my family. I actually bought it because it didn't display ads on the home screen like the other smart TVs I'd researched. Thought LG was the lesser e…

Only reason LG doesn't have adverts is by forcing it to use a pihole, but even that needs updating -- recently they've managed to push things through and I need to do another investigation to see what needs blocking. Trouble is I only see them when I'm not in the mood to be working, and then forget about them

They hardcode DNS servers into the TV. You need a firewall in front of the pihole intercepting that traffic, I use OpenWrt.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#248

Post by TeMPOraL »

b3orn wrote: post #242
drnick1 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "quasi-malware," it is malware.

15 years ago people would've called it spyware.

20 years ago people would've called it a trojan horse.

But then, by standards of two decades ago, every website that cannot legally avoid showing a GDPR popup would be classified as malware. As it should be today. Alas, standards have changed.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#249

Post by gblargg »

ssl-3 wrote: post #153
gblargg wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you're saying a monitor can just advertise a URL over the video connection for its driver and then Windows will blindly install it, without user confirmation? I thought that LG had submitted these "drivers" (adware) to Microsoft and they approved it.

Eh? No. It's just a device attached to a computer. But in a Plug-and-Play world, its addition is noticed by the operating system -- as has been normal for decades. Microsoft's Windows operating system sees this new hardware ID and then goes forth to install whatever-the-fuck software it associates with that identification, presumably as a service to the user. (Did Microsoft approve it? Dunno. I'm just over hear eatin…

> Eh? No.

That's what I thought. It is vetted software, just like on Linux. Microsoft just doesn't care if it shows ads.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#250

Post by TeMPOraL »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #215
felooboolooomba wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That headline was a lie. Kinda agree but let's call it "misinformed" or something, instead of a lie.

I would say it's neither a lie nor misinformed. It 's a punchier headline that can be justified by what the user experiences. The user connects a monitor which causes ads to appear. The rest of this Rube Goldberg contraption is a mere detail.

Those details are the only thing that matter. Without them, all you have is superstition.
Post reply on HN