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Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

krebsonsecurity.com

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Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#541

Post by Scoundreller »

kotaKat wrote: post #457
Scoundreller wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall the “free to air” receivers being pretty easy to configure. My main pita was getting a cheap ftdi usb->serial adapter because that’s how old the underlying tech was. Still easier than jtagging an official receiver. I migrated into it from the earlier days involving iso7816 card programming and mitm cards so I guess I didn’t have trouble finding which sites to get the fta files. I have good memories of those…

Yep. Gone are the days of running out for a "119 IKS" or hunting for Bev and Charlie, now everyone just grabs some pooched RTSP feeds and calls it a day. Feels fitting recently to discover the Dish Network "Pirate TV" recordings. I should run my own in-home IPTV station and use the Pirate TV bug as the logo... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVXSxJ357pw You're watching Dish Network's Pirate TV channel!... ... if you'…

Dunno if admitting defeat like that is a sign of strength or weakness.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#542

Post by charonn0 »

perpetuallunch wrote: post #410
charonn0 wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> rent the user’s Internet connection out to strangers. > Harm to the user: none^ Well, they are losing some of their bandwidth. They might not notice, but something which is rightfully theirs is being taken without consent.

If they don't notice, and they're on an unlimited data plan, or the usage is such that it doesn't result in exceeding their data cap, what argument is there that harm occurred?

I'm talking about bandwidth; connection speed.

The streaming stick in the article turns off its proxying feature while the user is actually streaming because the proxying feature consumes enough bandwidth to degrade streaming quality.

In other words, whenever the proxying feature is active every other device sharing the connection will suffer degraded performance.

Even if the user never notices, they're still worse off. They're still paying for bandwidth that someone else is using for profit. Money is flowing out of the user's pocket and into the pocket of the proxy operator. That makes the proxy operator a thief who is stealing from the user, and without even the Robin Hood-esque cover of defrauding ad networks.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#543

Post by jojobas »

inigyou wrote: post #521
breppp wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have, I still have not heard how the US government uses these as malware, but I would love to learn something new

For instance, if you use an Apple phone and the government wants to see the pictures you took, they can just get a copy of them from Apple using iCloud.

You're free to opt out of icloud/gcloud and the government will have a tough time extracting the pictures from your phone, as multiple lawsuits have shown.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#544

Post by jojobas »

inigyou wrote: post #538
breppp wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, using a warrant from a court. If the government wants to break into my house they can also do that with a warrant. Not exactly the same as having a key to my house though, and very far from a malware. Also to be more specific, In apple ecosystem I can opt for encryption where they can't

In the UK you can't opt for encryption.

You still can install PGP/GPG and encrypt whatever you upload yourself.

Still waiting for anything comparable to what China does.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#545

Post by inigyou »

jojobas wrote: post #544
inigyou wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK you can't opt for encryption.

You still can install PGP/GPG and encrypt whatever you upload yourself. Still waiting for anything comparable to what China does.

> Still waiting for anything comparable to what China does.

Social credit scores. The USA inspired China to copy them. But in the USA they aren't called social.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#546

Post by autoexec »

inigyou wrote: post #537
autoexec wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should get you started at least. Keep in mind that nobody is going to tell you that they charged you extra or didn't give you a job offer because of data collected from a data broker. No one is going to be transparent about how they use your data against you. None of the data being collected about you ever goes away. It doesn't matter if the data comes from you. or your backdoored streaming stick, the more data…

Which one is about someone who had more expensive health insurance because they ran a residential proxy?

The one titled: Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You — And It Could Raise Your Rates

The article says that health insurance companies are buying data from data brokers and using algorithms to set prices according to what you do online and what your "personal interests are".

It makes no difference if you run a residential proxy or not, using your browsing history (or your streaming stick's browsing history) data brokers will give insurance companies information that can be used to set your health insurance rates. The more clicks made over your internet connection, the more data they have to make assumptions about you with.

Remember, you asked for evidence that "any of this ever happened to anyone". There are also links showing that employers are buying up data based on your online activity and using it for hiring decisions, that the prices for things you buy are determined by your online activity, that what you do online has real world impacts on your life offline, and that extremists are using data brokers to identify targets.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#547

Post by hakfoo »

havaloc wrote: post #11
pavel_lishin wrote: post #6

> generic TV boxes that promise unlimited content streaming for a one-time fee I don't want to blame the purchasers of these things - who are some of the victims - but at the same time, it does seem like a Too Good To Be True situation.

I have an elderly client who sends me links of stuff to buy all the time. One day it's one of these streaming sticks, the next day it's half-price stamps, and I tell her every time, please don't buy this stuff. And yet she does anyway, as if I was almost being mean and saying no just to say no. So yes, I do want to blame the purchasers of these things, sometimes. To prove her point that her stamps were legitimate, sh…

Discounted stamps do exist.

Stamp collectors end up stuck with sheets and sheets of unpopular designs, and since the hobby (like many hobbies) has imploded, the dealers will pay less than face value for it; they in turn will sell it for a smaller discount for people who are willing to futz with wallpapering their envelope in 3-cent stamps and Fat Elvis.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#548

Post by sneak »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #478
inigyou wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why this is such an unpopular opinion on HN.

you don't get why a news aggregator for tech bros have problems with crappy devices hacking them?

Being on your LAN isn’t “hacking” anyone otherwise every hotel, airport, conference, and airplane would be unsafe.

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#549

Post by em-bee »

40four wrote: post #148
em-bee wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why is running a proxy a bad thing? someone profiting off it could be bad maybe, but even that is good if it pays for my subscription. but compare running tor nodes, and especially exit nodes. that surely would be a good thing, so at least if you think tor is good then running a proxy should be the same and it should be normalized. doing it in secret without the user knowing is what's bad

Because your home IP address is going to be associated with criminal activity. So if that’s acceptable “payment” then I guess there’s no issue

if proxies are legal, then i am not associated with what goes through my proxy. ISPs ate not associated with the activity that goes through them either.

and what about tor? should that be shut down too? or is there a legitimate reason for it to use residential proxies?

Re: Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick

#550

Post by __turbobrew__ »

inigyou wrote: post #445
__turbobrew__ wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t help when the garbage starts proxying illegal traffic through your home ISP.

What happens then?

Feds come to your door asking why you downloaded/distributed CSAM
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