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LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

tomshardware.com

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Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#291

Post by matheusmoreira »

tredre3 wrote: post #256
cassianoleal wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In any case, "We don't record continuously" is still recording. They should not be recording at all!

Enough with the knee jerk reactions. They have to record in some cases. You don't have to like those features, but plenty of people want those features. - The television has voice control. - The television has a manually triggered speech-to-text feature so you don't have to type with tv remote.

> Enough with the knee jerk reactions.

No. Stop minimizing their abuse.

Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#292

Post by isp »

aeternum wrote: post #23

Note that their statement could also be true if they record 99% of the time. We need to start calling companies out for meaningless weasel statements like "We don't record continuously". The majority of the problem is also simply the ability to record. Putting a remote control listening hardware on a device that runs a plethora of 3rd party apps and with full connection to the internet means that even if LG isn't con…

Yes. Another example:

> If no wake word is detected, the audio is processed locally, promptly deleted, and is not transmitted to LG servers.

This statement could still be true when:

* The audio transmission is to non-LG servers (e.g., Alphonso).

* The audio isn't transmitted, but the text transcription is.

Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#293

Post by Terr_ »

bryan0 wrote: post #198
Terr_ wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In order to detect a wake word then they must be collecting or recording ambient conversations. There's a risk here that we will talk-past one another while using different meanings of the same words, so let me offer a scenario: AcmeTV has an isolated component which taps microphone input, records to a 5-second ring buffer, and on "Wakey-Wakey" triggers an alert flag. Assume it works perfectly accurately. Would you…

> Assume it works perfectly accurately. Well this is a silly assumption. Wake word false positives happen all the time. (“No Siri, I wasn’t talking to you…”)

I wrote that in to deter kinda-bad-faith responses, where someone tries to play at being an evil-genie, inserting unreasonable flaws into the gaps, like: "But what if it triggered all the time? On purpose!?"

The point is that ethical implementations do exist, and them working does not rely on anything close to perfection--so nitpicking that word isn't helpful.

Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#294

Post by coin »

dang wrote: post #92

Recent and related: LG TVs caught spying even when offline or on standby - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49612329 - Sept 2026 (359 comments) GamersNexus and LG: Or why rooting your TV is a bad idea - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49605424 - Sept 2026 (133 comments) A Screensaver for LG's Spying Smart TVs - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49605356 - Sept 2026 (13 comments) LG TVs aren't the only one…

Why would anyone connect their TV to the Internet? It’s been known for years that it spies, although maybe not to this extent. Or are these TVs auto connecting open WiFi or the neighbor’s Xfinity WiFi?

Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#295

Post by ryandrake »

imoverclocked wrote: post #289
ryandrake wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, it's not even about why they're doing it (building an advertising profile). I don't want them doing it at all, for any reason. When I buy something from the store, my relationship is between me and the store, for the 30 seconds it takes for me to pay for it. I don't want an ongoing relationship with the device manufacturer. I don't want to be tethered in any way to the manufacturer. I don't want to have an acc…

Then what about all the cloud enabled spyware? How would that work? (/sarcasm) Truly though, smart-home stuff runs the whole gamut of privacy and device manufacturer relationships. eg: I have used three different smart/room AC units: - one requires its own cloud-enabled app for any remote connectivity, no HomeKit integration - one integrates with HomeKit but then leaves an upgrade hint that can only be done through a…

Manufacturers just need to realize that LANs exist and allow their devices to be used with the Internet turned off.

When I'm sitting in my home and I want to turn off the AC unit in the other room or close my garage door, there's no reason I should have to do an IP roundtrip to the manufacturer's server. Both devices are on my LAN. They should just talk to each other. This has been a solved problem for decades.

Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#296

Post by Ylpertnodi »

albumen wrote: post #282
rr808 wrote: post #248

Everyone complains but realistically TVs are so incredibly cheap now, I can't believe anyone would make money from hardware alone. I mean a Samsung 55in 4k tv for $300 delivered for free is crazy, let alone the $179 insignia one.

Yes. The Gamers Nexus video points out that in some cases LG makes more money from selling your behaviour to ad partners, than on the hardware itself.

I'd rather pay full price.

Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#298

Post by pnw »

tclancy wrote: post #276
rpdillon wrote: post #18

LG's statement: > ACR uses audio fingerprinting technology using the TV’s internal audio processor (not a speaker) to identify content and does not collect screenshots, screen recordings, video recordings, voice recordings, or other audio recordings from the TV. So they are claiming that ACR is done entirely through audio processing, and no visual data from the screen itself is used? That...doesn't seem plausible. Th…

Tom's response: "Sounds good, please don't take offense at me adding https://github.com/furkan-bayrak/lg-tv-blocklist to the PiHole. Can never be too safe, right?"

FWIW, LG will connect to a public DNS and use encryption so a basic PiHole list doesn't help unless you combine it with firewall rules. See the caveats section of that Github link.

Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#299

Post by Kiro »

coin wrote: post #294
dang wrote: post #92

Recent and related: LG TVs caught spying even when offline or on standby - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49612329 - Sept 2026 (359 comments) GamersNexus and LG: Or why rooting your TV is a bad idea - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49605424 - Sept 2026 (133 comments) A Screensaver for LG's Spying Smart TVs - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49605356 - Sept 2026 (13 comments) LG TVs aren't the only one…

Why would anyone connect their TV to the Internet? It’s been known for years that it spies, although maybe not to this extent. Or are these TVs auto connecting open WiFi or the neighbor’s Xfinity WiFi?

It's convenient and people 1. don't think it spies and 2. wouldn't care if it did.

Re: LG denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true'

#300

Post by hapticmonkey »

yndoendo wrote: post #149
firefoxd wrote: post #110

"We own the glass" that's what really stood out to me. I can still disconnect my TV from wifi. But what scares me is when every device comes with their own esim and cellular radio.

When you buy a BIC pen, you own all content created with that pen, not BIC. This needs to be applied to all other tools; computers, TVs, AI agents, ... With out the user the content would have never been created. Users are the content creates and now the push to remove their owners ship of their actions and move it to the wealthy. Greed begets more greed.

Introducing the new BIC Ai SmartPen. Every word you write gets sent back to the BIC data center. Give one to every kid in school!
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