LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

Post by nerdsniper » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 9:21 PM UTC

Laurel1234 wrote: post #409

jhallenworld wrote: post #371

I have a new LG TV, holy moly what a terrible user experience. Out of the box it requires you to create an LG account. PITA, but OK. Except I was supposed to set the location first, instead I set it after. So now you have the problem that you can not log into LG.com using my own email (even from a web browser) because it says: "incorrect country". I contacted their tech support about this, the only fix is to switch b…

Also it's really important to tell every guest in your home that the TV is recording everything they say or you'll be violating wiretapping laws, as per the EULA.

Post by reaperducer » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 9:28 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #408

nostrademons wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had an LG TV for work because my team developed some of the software on it. Similar experience - it got progressively worse (including the software my team developed, which in true Google fashion was deprioritized, discontinued, team laid off, and left to rot without anyone bothering to tell LG that it was no longer being maintained) until by the time I left that team it was nearly unusable as a "smart" TV and all…

> but for a TV, I just want a dumb screen that I can hook an HDMI cable to and run off a computer. Look into Digital Signage displays. You pay a brickload more money but get (much) higher quality in return.

Post by paulddraper » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 9:40 PM UTC

wnevets wrote: post #385

jacobgold wrote: post #369

US residential proxies are the bane of the internet. They're the major source of social media manipulation and spam. Services can dramatically reduce abuse by blocking entire IP ranges based on country of origin, organization, or type (hosting providers). But a company can't block US residential IPs if it would also cut off many of their real customers. The US government (probably the NSA) should be cracking down har…

> Major US ISPs (Comcast, AT&T) should detect clearly suspicious activity coming from customer IPs and warn them to scan their computers, check their TV apps, and find whatever is turning their internet into a proxy. It's very bad for the customers too (slows things down, gets their IP banned, etc) Does having TLS everywhere make this much harder?

Post by tjoff » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 9:56 PM UTC

Mindwipe wrote: post #381

tjoff wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airgapped is harder than you might think. If your TV finds an open network (neigbours?) it will use that one. And it is only a matter of time before they have cellular capabilities too.

When was the last time you saw a completely open residential wifi access point in the wild? This seems a little like worrying about getting Dodo poisoning.

Post by pudgywalsh » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 11:57 PM UTC

jacobgold wrote: post #395

pudgywalsh wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? These are not open proxies. You actually think the actors that went to the trouble to surreptitiously set this infrastructure up are going to share it with everyone for free? They are intentionally made hard to detect and access is sold to the highest bidder. Most ISP abuse reports are routinely ignored. They might as well be a dead letter box.

> These are not open proxies. Okay, I was being imprecise. These residential proxies aren't "open proxies" in the traditional sense, but they're usually "open" to anyone willing to pay a small amount of money to use them. > Most ISP abuse reports are routinely ignored. They might as well be a dead letter box. This is where regulation might play a role, or at least a change in attitude. Companies shouldn't be allowed…