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

Post by walrus01 » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 8:31 PM UTC

daemin wrote: post #599

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!

Doesn't HDMI have built in Ethernet these days? So any HDMI cable of a certain specification is also a network cable. I remember these things being discussed a while ago on here, how TVs use their own hard coded DNS ("for safety") rather than any network provided DNS (to avoid filtered DNS ala PiHole), how there's Ethernet in a HDMI cable, how other wireless networks are tried, and how eventually they'll go the car r…

Post by mehjustmeh » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 8:40 PM UTC

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?

Post by 7373737373 » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 8:42 PM UTC

anonu wrote: post #591

Can this be blocked with DNS / firewalls? Anyone done any work on that? Is there a DNS setting in LG? Could it be as simple as switching to a local DNS server on your network running nextdns.io?

Post by boelboel » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 8:44 PM UTC

Cider9986 wrote: post #562

boelboel wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 bill…

They would care if they understood it. They shouldn't have to care–they deserve consumer protection regardless.

Post by spockz » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 8:46 PM UTC

mindcrash wrote: post #595

Now do a analysis on everything else, including the smart fridge in the kitchen. Or what I am trying to say: Everybody has devices which have the potential to spy on you. Unless your first name is Richard, only travel with open source hardware and software, and you have to ask someone to lend you a phone if you want to call someone even when you are at home.