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

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

#691

Post by bayindirh » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 10:45 PM UTC

Obscurity4340 wrote: post #604

Animats wrote: post #571

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…

Can you actually even turn and keep the microphone off or does it toggle itself back on like Apple's Wifi and Bluetooth one-touch toggle off for now buttons?

> Apple's Wifi and Bluetooth one-touch toggle off for now buttons?

This comparison rubs me off the wrong way every time I see, because.

1. The notifications clearly tell the behavior (doing $THING until tomorrow).

2. There's a way to turn them "really off".

What LG does is completely different. IIRC from the teaser of this video, the microphone is never "completely" off or apps can re-enable them somehow.

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

#692

Post by jojobas » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 10:47 PM UTC

mapontosevenths wrote: post #341

jojobas wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any SBC like Radxa Rock (cheap) to Orange Pi (powerful). 4k output, a linux you control, play retro games or stream torrent movies.

Not well. If you only care about file playback, bit still care about things like HDR and quality audio I would recommend something like the OSMC Vero V instead. It's still relatively cheap, and open source, but also let's you playback something like a blu-ray rip without loss of quality. It has the other bonus of not requiring any real setup or maintenance.

GBM/DRM Kodi supports HDR video on the Orange Pi 5 family. You can grab whatever audio from HDMI or plug whatever in the usb port, the only advantage of this Vero is the optical out.

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

#693

Post by FireBeyond » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 10:48 PM UTC

sgerenser wrote: post #458

lxgr wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

ACR isn't generally a lossless 4K snap shot but indexed 32x32 pixel blocks from arbitrary locations on screen. In some cases it's even a fuzzy hash of the content source, and while 80Kbps isn't a lot, you can still push out data in a timely manner.

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

#694

Post by Terr_ » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #605

phony-account wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The law has been unable to keep up with tech changes. Let's hope for the irony of AI helping them figure this stuff out.

> The law has been unable to keep up with tech changes.

Nah, for the most part the law has been unable to keep up with (or choose to oppose) corporate power, and new ways it's being used. Usually there's no magic quantum doohickey which demands fundamentally new legal theory.

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

#695

Post by Cider9986 » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 10:51 PM UTC

boelboel wrote: post #616

Cider9986 wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Well you can say this about dozens of products. People basically only care about price and perceived status for some products. Repairability, privacy, sustainability ... are not important for 90% of people, when government tries to they get pissed annoyed having to pay more.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/05/07/only-4-of-ios-use...

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

#696

Post by hermitcrab » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 10:54 PM UTC

George Orwell imagined a 'Telescreen' that also spies on you in '1984':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescreen

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

#697

Post by RattlesnakeJake » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC

drnick1 wrote: post #472

declan_roberts wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What makes you think the Apple TV isn't also spying on you? It almost certainly is collecting telemetry too. Whether that's more or less than LG I don't know, but my preference is a Linux box with Plasma Bigscreen.

At least you can replace it if that becomes a problem. Firmware built into the TV itself is something that you're stuck with.

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

#698

Post by asdff » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 10:59 PM UTC

myrmidon wrote: post #403

Modems becoming super cheap is gonna be a big problem for this, because those make it even harder to prevent such snooping. Just imagine having to jam the devices in your own home just to stop them from profiling you. Better pray to your deer god that modem + data contract is gonna stay more expensive that the expected value from selling more data... We really need regulation to stop this.

My house already jams cell signals at least

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

#699

Post by gxs » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

What will we do when these devices start shipping with their own sim cards and we can’t simply just not connect them to WiFi?

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

#700

Post by tagrun » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 11:10 PM UTC

buzer wrote: post #671

Animats wrote: post #571

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…

Is that actually for smart tvs? The first paragraph includes "the products you may access or otherwise connect to via the ThinQ mobile application (not including Smart TVs)" and "These Terms of Use do not apply to any other LG products or services, including Smart Media Products." [EDIT] Smart Media products terms appear to be at https://us.lgappstv.com/main/terms (for comparison here's UK: https://gb.lgappstv.com/ma…

It appears so from the link you provided: https://us.lgappstv.com/main/terms#tabContentTerms6

> 8. I understand that LGE will retain the collected Voice Information for 6 months to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it, and after this period, it will be deleted or anonymized, depending on the case.

> 9. I understand that this Smart Media Product is a household device. If this Smart Media Product will be used by more than one person, I represent that, in addition to agreeing to this Agreement, that I have obtained consent from all other members of my household whose information may be collected through this Smart Media Product and am providing consent on their behalf.