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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]

#581

Post by ProllyInfamous »

opello wrote: post #534
ProllyInfamous wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This exactly. Surely some sort of IoT mesh networking will allow exfiltration of data even without having configured your own device. I'm hopeful that there will be sufficient distrust that "jailbreaking" or "rooting" TV controller boards will be turnkey enough to move to something like OpenWrt or GrapheneOS but for TVs.

>IoT mesh networking

I'll bet there is already a manufacturer whose TVs can all communicate intratelevisually (non-standard proprietary frequencies) – and then, if even one of them is online... they're all relaying within their private intra-TV spyware meshnets to their various relays.

----

In unrelated news, my 2012 Sony Bravia is still fantastic, even if not for (4K) high-refresh games (the image quality remains fantastic for casual usage).

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

#583

Post by andrepd »

EA-3167 wrote: post #542
rpdillon wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a similar reaction from folks when I don't trust services/devices. Most telling moment was when I refused to upload my license to LinkedIn because I lost 2FA (token on phone, phone destroyed). Microsoft assured me they would "delete the license as soon as it was verified". I've written too many software systems for too many companies, and I do not believe them . Of course, they'd outsourced to AU10TIX, which d…

Same here when they find out I’ve never had an FB/IG/X etc account. As though having that crap in your life is somehow mandatory. People who make poor choices love to pretend that they had no choice at all.

1. Interaction with Meta is virtually mandatory in many places in the world. Try opting out of Meta when your kid's daycare or your building's group chat is on whatsapp.

2. It doesn't really matter if you opt out, because _other people around you don't_: they take pictures in which you show, they tag you, they talk about you, they send you links, etc. Which means they (Meta) build a shadow profile of you anyway.

The "personal responsibility angle" is pure fiction.

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

#584

Post by johnnyanmac »

duped wrote: post #512
throw93947309 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Why would you even connect TV to the network? It is well known for like 5 years. Smsrt TVs go through your movies library, and upload screenshots and filenames to internet. Some will start showing ads after firmware upgrade.

The alternative is inconvenient and more expensive. And most people simply don't care.

We don't really have alternatives, period. LG is the one in the news today, but pretty much any TV this decade has been doing similar things. Computer monitors max out at 32 inches and the idea of a modern dumb TV is non-existent.

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

#585

Post by baby_souffle »

FractalParadigm wrote: post #574
godelski wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of that, the first few minutes of the video suggests it captures your neighbors' device and IP information. I'm sure the ToS has some BS about you being required to inform any guests, but what if your TV is just recording your neighbors because they are close enough? Just wait, I'm sure the "solution" will be that TVs start displaying reminders that you're being recorded... Is our inability to innovate in tech…

Re. The last paragraph, that's what confuses me the most about all of this. LG has virtually held a monopoly of the entire OLED TV market for the past ~15 years, selling (arguably) one of the TVs on the market and being the only thing I've recommended people buy in about as long. They could have done literally nothing but update the hardware every other year with a newer SoC, HDMI version, etc. and done just fine. No…

> It's insane that there's more profit in duping your users to spy on them and sell their data/information, than there is just making and selling a great product.

Seems pretty logical, no?

How do we sell more TVs? Be a cheaper and or better choice. If we're already doing well technically, sell customer data to discount the TV and appear more attractive.

If this is ethical / how much disclosure you'd need to give to customers so they can make this informed choice is a whole other discussion...

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

#586

Post by tosti »

devmor wrote: post #450
josuepeq wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You got lucky. If you've got an apartment in, say, a healthcare facility, they'll install those thermostats and whatnot. Usually the neighbours are clueless about technology so complaining doesn't get very far at all.

It's even worse if some staff wrote paranoid in your file, 'cause they'll argue it's good for "exposure".

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

#587

Post by MarkusQ »

MarkusQ wrote: post #417
unrented7977 wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Capitalism cannot survive when products last a lifetime. This is totally backwards; capitalism would do fine in such an environment (in the same way that evolution does fine in an environment where organisms live more than just a few seconds; the whole reason we have the notion of a "lifetime" is that our germ line comes from a long line of ancestral DNA that made organisms that outlasted their competition.) Indivi…

Whoa!

I think maybe I stepped on somebody's agenda?

Both capitalism and evolution depend on the fact that over time, on average, less fit organisms/organizations are displaced by better alternatives. You may not like that, but down-voting anyone who points it out doesn't make it any less true.

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

#588

Post by [deleted] »

FractalParadigm wrote: post #574
godelski wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On top of that, the first few minutes of the video suggests it captures your neighbors' device and IP information. I'm sure the ToS has some BS about you being required to inform any guests, but what if your TV is just recording your neighbors because they are close enough? Just wait, I'm sure the "solution" will be that TVs start displaying reminders that you're being recorded... Is our inability to innovate in tech…

Re. The last paragraph, that's what confuses me the most about all of this. LG has virtually held a monopoly of the entire OLED TV market for the past ~15 years, selling (arguably) one of the TVs on the market and being the only thing I've recommended people buy in about as long. They could have done literally nothing but update the hardware every other year with a newer SoC, HDMI version, etc. and done just fine. No…

[deleted]

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

#589

Post by MetaWhirledPeas »

herpdyderp wrote: post #535
delecti wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Works til they put a 5g modem in the damn things. Okay, but it does work until then. "Things could change in the future" is definitionally true. Never connect the TV in the first place, and you don't need to physically alter the hardware, firmware, or TOS agreements.

How do we know that they're not already putting 5G modems in them?

Smarter people than me are usually pretty good at guessing what PCB components do just by looking at the shape of them. I guess that's not proof but it's enough for me.

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

#590

Post by phony-account »

Animats wrote: post #572

Here are LG's contract terms for appliances.[1] They are awful. Not only can they listen in. You have a contractual requirement to tell everyone in range of an appliance that they may be eavesdropped upon. CONSENT REQUIREMENT: You acknowledge and agree that it is your sole responsibility to obtain all necessary consents from any third parties whose voices may be captured by the Product and to notify household members…

And yet what lawmakers focused on was getting your consent for a cookie on a website you were only going to visit once.
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