216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#371

Post by newsoftheday » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

korzinka wrote: post #107

I've bought an LG Smart TV 5 years ago, read t&c where I was supposed to grant them any data they wanted, decided to disagree and kept all network functions disabled. I was ridiculed by my friends for that. At some point, I thought - maybe I'm really crazy to do so? Who am I, a caveman, a luddite? Oh well, I'm not. Not a bad tv though, many HDMI ports!

We replaced our old TV recently with an LG and are really liking it. We do not let it on our network though and keep networking functionality disabled. It's basically a monitor for our Kubuntu Linux laptop sitting behind it. We stream with Chrome and use a mouse and the TV remote for audio. Once in a while we actually watch something on TV itself too. It'd be nice I guess if the built in TV app had DVR but if it does; I couldn't figure out how to make it work. No great loss there.

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#372

Post by jarym » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:51 PM UTC

They used to make some nice equipment but I’ve stopped buying anything from LG and share that recommendation to friends and family.

I know I’m not the only one so I’m sure LG are experiencing the results of consumer democracy.

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#373

Post by unrented7977 » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:52 PM UTC

skerit wrote: post #325

Sophira wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, you're not crazy. I'm also someone who actually reads terms documents, because I find that they're often the only thing that will be truthful about a company's intentions. And keeping it completely disconnected from the internet should be the default, in my opinion.

I never understood why any of the smartness had to be built into the TV in the first place. Sure, it's useful for the first year, and then the seriously underpowered hardware they installed into it will have trouble with just about anything. I bought a Philips Ambilight OLED TV probably over 8 years now. Brilliant tv, great quality, I still see no reason to replace it at all. But its built in AndroidTV is garbage.

It's so you buy a new one every few years instead of keeping the same TV for a decade or two. Capitalism cannot survive when products last a lifetime.

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#374

Post by MilanTodorovic » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:53 PM UTC

sgerenser wrote: post #242

Eji1700 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then your neighbor spins up an unprotected network or something like xfinity which they could have a deal with and it connects there and phones home anyways.

I hear this a lot “TVs will just connect to a nearby unprotected WiFi network!” But I ve never seen any evidence of it. It appears to just be speculation, unless you have an actual source?

Seeing how things have recently been developing, I'd bet on it already being the case or at least in active development.

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#375

Post by account42 » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:55 PM UTC

deadbunny wrote: post #329

sgerenser wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this a lot “TVs will just connect to a nearby unprotected WiFi network!” But I ve never seen any evidence of it. It appears to just be speculation, unless you have an actual source?

Its always speculation that would be trivial to actually test. 1. Do not connect to network 2. Create unauthenticated WiFi network 3. Monitor WiFi network Strange no one has ever done this simple af test to backup their claims

If TV manufacturers wanted to be underhanded then they could actually make this much harder to detect by delaying the connection to new unauthenticated networks for e.g. months or only after seeing another device connect and then using that device's MAC when it is not around.

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#376

Post by pixel_popping » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:55 PM UTC

spockz wrote: post #172

Okay. This is insane. First the monitor that uses a windows feature to automatically install a small helper tool with root permissions and then starts showing adds in certain regions. Now a tv that is actually actively snooping around on top of the known fingerprinting. What else is next? In the previous topic I got ridiculed for not wanting to buy LG anymore because I could use an agent to modify to strip out the of…

It's insane, but it's not like it's not known, personally, each time we have a party at home with friends, we always unplug the TV for this reason, it's out of doubt but it's normal to doubt as it's proprietary and has a microphone, so it's a bit obvious that it might be recording and processing data somewhere. The same as I would never trust an average phone around if I'm having a private conversation.

Blackbox+Mic = Not private.

To consider something secure software wise, it involves so many layers, and almost none of those are present with a Smart TV, so it IS considered insecure by anyone having privacy standards.

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#377

Post by ajaimk » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:56 PM UTC

Question: I recently upgraded my LG OLED and decided to not accept any of the terms and conditions. I just connect it to my Apple TV and it lives on that HDMI port permanently. How safe am I?

PS: I do have the TV connected to wifi for software updates (on a pi.holed network)

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#378

Post by ppbbii » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:56 PM UTC

rossy wrote: post #246

ezst wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This. Why would you even connect TV to the network? I happen to have a NAS with family pictures I like to display. I can (and do) firewall that thing, but then you hit other issues like the apps you need to show pictures and movies in the first place not to install/run. I've yet to hear of a reasonable recipe to isolate and secure such connected TVs. And don't get me started on Chromecast or other Android dongles,…

Obviously, as an advertising company, Google should have your utmost scrutiny. But as far as I know, their TV boxes don't ACR your content. If they were the only two options, sticking with your smart TV software instead of using a Google TV box would be a privacy mistake.

Typically you will get sambatv or such installed, and technicians for whatever reason tend to click accept/approve during installations. Happened to me n my Google TV thing

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#379

Post by awill88 » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:58 PM UTC

ajaimk wrote: post #377

Question: I recently upgraded my LG OLED and decided to not accept any of the terms and conditions. I just connect it to my Apple TV and it lives on that HDMI port permanently. How safe am I? PS: I do have the TV connected to wifi for software updates (on a pi.holed network)

No doubt the feature that would imply analytics doesn’t function until terms are accepted doesn’t work as intended. It’s not like it’s going to be a priority to test before going to production.

Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

#380

Post by account42 » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 2:59 PM UTC

fanatic2pope wrote: post #271

Asmod4n wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is sadly no hdmi CEC support on Most GPUs for pcs. So when you want your tv to turn on and off with your pc it is only possible with the tv being reachable from your pc via ip. I believe LG doesn’t advertise such an api via Bluetooth

You can get USB controlled CEC injectors for HDMI. https://www.pulse-eight.com/p/104/usb-hdmi-cec-adapter

For a 4K120Hz TV I'd be worried about this adding signal integrity issues - "all versions of HDMI®, including HDMI® 2.0a" doesn't inspire confidence.