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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]

#451

Post by mancerayder »

After researching a new TV (where it only needs an Apple TV, no so-called smart features for spying purposes) the three contenders were Samsung, LG and Sony Bravia (the higher end models). Samsung was the least trustworthy, having played games with firmware updates and adding telemetry, LG was medium trustworthy, and Sony seemed the least likely. It looks like that heuristic was correct. For the Bravia, I put it on wifi just once temporarily to upgrade the firmware when I bought it, and I'm leaving it disconnected.

It can't just magically connect to an openwifi and update its firmware to start telemetry. It would need a new firmware to even try that.

Folks, never update a TV firmware unless it's necessary.

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

#452

Post by c22 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #432
imglorp wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PS, my technical means are keeping my TV off the internet.

Which doesnt work. LG tvs will scan for availible networks. Someone setting up a new router within range briefly disables encryption and "your" tv will jump on that network and transmit all the stored data. It is tinfoil hats time, at least for LG tvs.

Give it a network, but don't allow that network to access the internet.

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

#453

Post by howunfortunate »

DudeOpotomus wrote: post #429
howunfortunate wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly believe the worst vices of social media would all persist if there were zero advertising. You can see that by looking at more minor or fringe social media sites. Public "liking" is literally all it takes for people to degenerate into performativeness, sensationalism, grandstanding, misinformation, etc.

I find it sad that intelligent, educated people can be so blind to the evils building around them. How they confuse the opportunity for a right and how they take and accept awful as normal because they were raised without understanding what they never had... To associate contextual advertising based on large scale demographics and location with spying, lying, cheating and thieving at an individual level, is a great e…

> They sat on the end caps of grocery stores, far away from the News. TV news was regulated and there was a strict ethics code in place.

This is our key point of disagreement, not any of the rest

I strongly disagree that the "Real News" of yesterday was "good information" as I define that. It served the biases of the publishers and writers. It was sensationalist. It strongly censored and suppressed politically incorrect viewpoints, to a degree not seen today. The Overton Window was miniscule. The ethics codes were largely self-serving and inert against its major flaws.

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

#456

Post by ProllyInfamous »

newsoftheday wrote: post #371
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'm still nervously holding my breath for the first disclosure that a TV manufacturer is using Amazon's distributed Sidewalk Network (or perhaps mobile vehicles, cell-SIMs, LoRa) to remotely gather all that viewing data they've subsidized into your artificially-low TV purchase price .

But they've been calling "crazy?" for decades.

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

#457

Post by sgerenser »

lxgr wrote: post #323
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?

They could also use something like Amazon Sidewalk or ATSC 3.0's dedicated return channel.

They could (although I’m not sure of the 80Kbps that Amazon sidewalk allows is really sufficient for the purpose of uploading ACR data), but is there any evidence that any TV manufacturer actually is? The reality is, why would they bother? 95% percent of people that buy a “Smart TV” hook it right up to their WiFi as soon as they take it out of the box.

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

#458

Post by Arainach »

roboror wrote: post #410
theshrike79 wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple TV is the best one. No ads, full OS updates for a long time.

There are ads for ATV content.

No, there really aren't.

I turn on the device, the app in the upper left is selected and showing some content from that.

The device sits idle, I get drone footage of landscapes.

If I accidentally bump the wrong button on the remote and get sent into the Apple TV (streaming service) app, sure it advertises producte, but in general there are no ads.

In comparison, Google TV's homescreen is giant ads for content on services I don't subscribe to, Roku is at least as bad, Amazon is worse, and Samsung and LG......oof.

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

#459

Post by dillutedfixer »

para_parolu wrote: post #435
dillutedfixer wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not connected to the internet. The AppleTV is.

My question was about why to go and unplug wifi internally

Well even if they don't do it now, these are just a forced update away from using WiFi to connect to an open AP to do whatever they want. I also really hated the fact that there was really no way to turn BT off. Anytime the TV was on it showed up as a BT device ready to connect, and I would get random neighbors trying to and having to say no to random pop ups approving connections. Now these things are sans any type of wireless, and when it comes time to sell them, it will take me 5 mins to reconnect the internal ribbon cable.

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

#460

Post by declan_roberts »

mancerayder wrote: post #451

After researching a new TV (where it only needs an Apple TV, no so-called smart features for spying purposes) the three contenders were Samsung, LG and Sony Bravia (the higher end models). Samsung was the least trustworthy, having played games with firmware updates and adding telemetry, LG was medium trustworthy, and Sony seemed the least likely. It looks like that heuristic was correct. For the Bravia, I put it on w…

Just keep the TV completely disconnected and use something like an Apple TV.
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