Telescreens. Can anyone recommend a non-spying TV brand or a model? (Modern)
Possibly use a projector instead?
216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
21–30 of 1001 posts
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#22Telescreens. Can anyone recommend a non-spying TV brand or a model? (Modern)
Sceptre still makes some, Walmart carries many of their models.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#23Only a matter of time before they ship with cell modems so you can’t disconnect them from the internet. My LG tv post-update is never allowed on a network and it will never be updated again. Hopefully it never breaks…
I wonder whether it's better to connect it to a network that is then firewalled off from the internet. That may prevent it from looking for alternatives. > Only a matter of time before they ship with cell modems I do wonder about the hackability of this. Will it be a purely telemetry connection or will it be able to stream video via that connection as well? (not that data costs as much these days as it used to). Can…
They would probably use a low cost IoT plan, which (without volume discount) is something like $1/mo and a few cents per MB. So they may be able to send content ID info or conversation transcripts, but video would be too expensive unless the user pays.
GPS is probably unnecessary since mobile phones are constantly mapping out WLANs. You can get a decent approximation of GPS with just a wireless scan in most places.
I saw a previous conversation here where someone said they were able to “repurpose” a similar IoT modem to get some free data, but the modern chips are soldered on and tightly integrated, so it would be harder to reuse unless you get root on the device. I think they use eSIMs stored in a secure element in the CPU.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#24Telescreens. Can anyone recommend a non-spying TV brand or a model? (Modern)
I have an older TCL TV that I've never connected to the internet. Of course, that doesn't prevent it from finding open wifi access points and exfiltrating data without my consent. Based on this (really marvelous) reporting from Gamers Nexus, I probably need to double-check what is actually happening.
BTW corporate meeting rooms with smart TVs...shouldn't have them.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#25Telescreens. Can anyone recommend a non-spying TV brand or a model? (Modern)
Possibly use a projector instead?
Or even better, don't watch (or own a) TV.
But this response is like when there were meat safety issues in the US and some people said "then buy another brand". People didn't buy that argument (for what I hope are obvious reasons), and so regulation was enacted to protect the public.
It's clear that this problem must be handled with regulation, too. I'm all for markets solving problems, but I'm also for recognizing when it can't. I haven't seen the whole video yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's NOT just LG.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#26Only a matter of time before they ship with cell modems so you can’t disconnect them from the internet. My LG tv post-update is never allowed on a network and it will never be updated again. Hopefully it never breaks…
I wonder whether it's better to connect it to a network that is then firewalled off from the internet. That may prevent it from looking for alternatives. > Only a matter of time before they ship with cell modems I do wonder about the hackability of this. Will it be a purely telemetry connection or will it be able to stream video via that connection as well? (not that data costs as much these days as it used to). Can…
Hard to get a gps fix indoors. My guess is to infer it from OTA tv channel IDs and relative signal strengths. Wouldn’t need a big database and the transmitters don’t move much.
See “datacasting” for data side. Would be 1-way so hard to know how many eye/ear balls get the noise; I mean; ad.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#27Obviously they'll get away with this in the US, but doesn't this break a LOT of EU privacy laws?
>Obviously they'll get away with this in the US
I'm not sure about that. Although this reporting is aimed at the everyman, the problem they describe is far more impactful for elites and corporations. This is pervasive violation of their personal, corporate and legally privileged privacy, and is a vector for systematic corporate espionage. So I suspect US Senators will soon get phone calls from donors really upset about this.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#28Telescreens. Can anyone recommend a non-spying TV brand or a model? (Modern)
We bought a new tv two years ago and I spent probably a week researching to find the least-smart set I could.
The best option is display only units made for businesses, like what they use for restaurant menus, but those are usually twice the price of normal tvs because they're not app subsidized like smart tvs are.
What I ended up going with was Hisense. They ship with Google TV, but it's disabled by default. On first power up, it asks if you want to activate the Google TV features, and you can just say no. The thing then runs like a basic display.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#29Obviously they'll get away with this in the US, but doesn't this break a LOT of EU privacy laws?
>Obviously they'll get away with this in the US I'm not sure about that. Although this reporting is aimed at the everyman, the problem they describe is far more impactful for elites and corporations. This is pervasive violation of their personal, corporate and legally privileged privacy, and is a vector for systematic corporate espionage. So I suspect US Senators will soon get phone calls from donors really upset abo…
> So I suspect US Senators will soon get phone calls from donors really upset about this
:pray emoji:
Definitely need to find a powerful-adjacent group that could be damaged by the kinds of leaks these TVs represent.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#30Telescreens. Can anyone recommend a non-spying TV brand or a model? (Modern)
I have stopped using TV sets more than a decade ago.
Instead of a TV set, I use a very big monitor, which is connected to a mini-PC (an old Intel NUC with Linux), which also has a TV tuner and an infrared remote control receiver. Besides just showing a TV channel, a mini-PC can also record it and it can play any other kind of movie or music files, or it can stream some video from the Internet.