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

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

#441

Post by washadjeffmad »

cesarb wrote: post #423
noir_lord wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Works til they put a 5g modem in the damn things. My Samsung asked for internet access and I just laughed and said nope. It exists to displays pixels from a Linux box, utterly sick of living in a world where "is my TV manufacturer bugging our house?" Is a thing anyone has to ask.

> It exists to displays pixels from a Linux box, If you're not using the defining feature of a TV (the OTA tuner), why not buy a monitor instead of a TV? (Next time I have to replace our house's TV, I'm seriously considering buying a separate SBTVD tuner and a monitor instead of a TV, if ignoring the "smart" features of these TVs by not connecting them to a network starts getting too difficult.)

Modern TVs are designed to work with PCs and consoles, they just also happen to have tuners. "Smart" features are mostly a distraction from actual panel capabilities.

Monitor choices also tend charge a premium for equivalent size and quality while lacking some of the features, or introducing other issues. See LG gaming monitors silently installing adware on connection:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48956688

My LG OLED C2 also has a great utility to manage deep service-level configurations. Makes it easy to professionally customize without having to fuss with the menus.

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

#442

Post by DPDmancul »

ryandrake wrote: post #431
account42 wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly why this keeps happening. If I bug your house I'd be charged with all kinds of crimes. If LG does it at scale nothing happens.

We need to climb two very difficult hills for there to be any change here: 1. We need our governments to actually start charging companies with crimes, when what they are doing would be illegal for an individual to do, and 2. We need the penalties to be something other than fines, which are ultimately treated by companies as routine costs of business.

> We need the penalties to be something other than fines, which are ultimately treated by companies as routine costs of business.

It's true that fines are nothing more than predictable costs, so maybe an option would be fines in percentage of the incoming of the company: this way it could make a real impact. I know in some north Europe countries the speed limit fines are in percentage on the personal net worth.

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

#443

Post by CGMthrowaway »

dillutedfixer wrote: post #382

As an owner of 2 LG OLEDs, I am not surprised at all. I neutered these things the first day I was past the return policy. Opened the back and unplugged the WiFi/BT chip, bought a cheap dumb universal remote with no mic in it, disagreed to all T&C in the TV, updated the firmware via USB and just use an AppleTV over HDMI for streaming. Kind of silly to have to go through all of this but hey thats where we are in 2026 i…

Why wait until after the return policy? Also what firmware did you update to? Also if you could point to a video where it shows how to do all these things that would be amazing

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

#444

Post by boelboel »

Anoian wrote: post #149
touwer wrote: post #139

Funny, published on a site with 1745 'partners' who fully respect our privacy of course

Respect for the consumer has long been gone generally except for a few brands. I am still wondering why consumer respecting brands are not emerging more and thriving.

The bottom of the line TVs are basically commoditized and are sold at a loss. There's few tv manufacturers and they mostly compete on price, only the top of the line models have pricing power and only for 6-24 months for new models. A supermajority of consumers don't care if they're tracked all the time and a large fraction don't mind ads everywhere either (they're used to it).

A new display plant costs multiple billions.

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

#445

Post by scoot »

josuepeq wrote: post #433
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!

It’s okay to be a luddite. Not everything needs to have an interface. Got into a spat with a manager at my apartment complex because I refused to install their app just to deal with a maintenance issue. He was like, “I don’t see the problem, you have to use the Latch app to open your apartment door.” To which I replied, “No, I have the door keypad code memorized.” Just like I don’t need an app to make a log of exit/e…

> you have to use the Latch app to open your apartment door

So what happens if you arrive home with a dead phone?

And possibly worse, they have a log of when you come and go?

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

#446

Post by dataflow »

jandrese wrote: post #427
account42 wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Watch this two hour long video" is not a particularly useful reply. If you think the TV can exfiltrate your data without an internet connection then you should be able to explain how it could do that in your own words.

Just because you didn't allow it on your local WiFi doesn't mean it did not connect to the Internet. Your neighbors might have a guest WiFi it can use. Or maybe it has a built-in cell modem. Your data is valuable, there's reason to put effort into getting it.

Wouldn't using a neighbor's Wi-Fi without anyone's permission or instruction violate CFAA or some other law?

Also, wouldn't this be trivial to test by just setting up your own network and seeing if the TV connects?

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

#447

Post by Asmod4n »

05 wrote: post #195
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

HDMI breakout and a esp32 module flashed with esphome is another option. The tv most likely doesn’t care that the port that sent on/off command is not the same port the video signal is coming from..

The tv does care which port it came from, since it automatically switches to the one which made the request.

One could build a IR emitter but you need soldering skills for that or buy a usb one which cost north of 30€ + shipping.

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

#448

Post by devmor »

josuepeq wrote: post #433
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!

It’s okay to be a luddite. Not everything needs to have an interface. Got into a spat with a manager at my apartment complex because I refused to install their app just to deal with a maintenance issue. He was like, “I don’t see the problem, you have to use the Latch app to open your apartment door.” To which I replied, “No, I have the door keypad code memorized.” Just like I don’t need an app to make a log of exit/e…

My apartment complex came to install keypads and centrally managed smart thermostats and I would not let them.

Thankfully my lease was old enough that I was able to argue against it. I don’t want a 3rd party company tracking my habits, and I don’t want some manager boiling my pets alive while I’m gone because they decided they think our AC is set too low.

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

#449

Post by cr3ative »

holowoodman wrote: post #438
cr3ative wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is an _incredible_ claim, please back it up.

https://youtu.be/6IFVTcM28KA?t=637 But better watch the whole video. Then get snarky again ;)

"This is a concern broadly and future looking" does not in any way mean LG TVs are doing it now; there would be proof of this if they were, it would be easy to catch.

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

#450

Post by xxs »

pixel_popping wrote: post #376
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…

A note => any speaker works as microphone.

When I was a kid we used vacuum tube radio both as a passive speaker and a microphone... connected to the speakerphone of a telephone as a very poor man walkie-talkie.

Using the speakers as microphone when there is no outgoing sounds is pretty trivial in that regard. I don't know how paranoid a person can be, though.

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