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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]

#831

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…

IANAL but without concent I think LG is comitting a crime here. The owner who ostensibly agreed to obtain concent through the ToS might be breaking their agreement, but wouldn't that be a separate issue?

ToS and other click licenses have been making shit up for way too long.

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

#832

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's absurd is that this doesn't void the terms by default. There should be limits to what companies can put in their ToS beyond which those terms aren't enforceable.

There are limits. You can’t waive certain rights, and you can’t overwrite certain laws. The issue is that we haven’t made this shit against the law yet.

Ask LG who has agreed to their wiretapping. They can't tell you if some guest in front of a TV has agreed or not.

How can that be concent?

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

#833

Reminder: you can connect it to your network, but block it from the internet at the router. That way you can still use Airplay/Chromecast. I have an LG. Great OLED panel. It's never seen the internet.

No, you can't. They can just spoof their MAC address and be freed.

Ah yes. Using that OTA update it got via AM radio.

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

#834
There needs to be a crowdfunded jailbreak of all these TVs firmware so all of these dystopian features can be hard disabled. I'm guessing the mainboards of these things have zero protection from someone clamping on their flash ROMs or tapping the bus; these are hardly X-boxen or Playstations with uber-DRM. (Assuming you can't just force new unsigned modified firmware directly into them via USB)

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

#835
post #787

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are state's attourney's general going to go after them? eh. you ask if they're enforceable but that's the wrong question, the real question is will anyone do anything to stop them? This is the kind of thing that states need to make explicitly illegal.

Would be even better if the federal government made it illegal.

Would be even better to have a judge declare that they already are illegal.

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

#836

Most TV sets should not normally need microphones, and if they have that in some models (as long as there are models without), then there should be a hardware switch to disable them. However, "continuously sweep home networks, map secondary devices, and log microphone audio while appearing to be turned off" is also stealing and wasting your power.

Every speaker is also a microphone

The NSA enters the chat

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

#837

What would the HN crowd recommend for a good linux streaming box + hardware with decent TV UX and remote? My LG is completely offline and I'm using an nvidia shield to display any content, but I'm thinking maybe I need to go the extra mile, there nothing preventing an android tv box to do the same.

This definitely requires "extra mile" kind of work, but it sounds like what you want: https://youtu.be/nROKp0BpFek?si=msJJrdpq143W3nEf

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

#838
post #78

I have a rooted LG C4. Beyond blocking things at the DNS level, not accepting terms, not using AI, I wonder if there’s some existing software solution or a documented step-by-step to remove this bloatware/spyware.

It'll be difficult. It's webos of which there's very little custom development. You'd be better off with an android tv which you can poke at using adb and disable services. Maybe even root it. And install alternative software like smarttubenext. Unfortunately there very few Android based TVs left. Phillips recently switched to Titanos, Samsung has tizen, Amazon has a new OS. I think it's just Sony that's left on andr…

Surely the Astras and Fables of this world would make light work of setting up a WebOS build environment and be able to create practically any changes you can think of, especially if there is a way for them to iterate the development.

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

#840
post #721

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is: which brands still respect user privacy? If I were to buy a new TV today, which brands-models should I prioritize? Also, are there brands-models that in which it is possible to sideload a different OS like with mobile phones (LineageOS, GrapheneOS, etc.)

> which brands still respect user privacy? does anyone know of a reputable site which rates companies by things such as trustworthiness? are any companies at all trustworthy anymore? like literally any?

rtings is starting to cover some of this stuff now.
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