Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

tomshardware.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 513 posts

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

#401

Post by rozal »

ryandrake wrote: post #354
rlpb wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want an ongoing relationship with the device manufacturer. I think it depends on the device. If I buy an iPhone, I have the expectation of installing apps on it after purchase, and that necessarily involves a relationship with the app store provider (ie. Apple), not the store I bought the phone from. With a TV, I suppose it depends on whether I want to install media apps like Prime Video or Netflix on it. I…

> If I buy an iPhone, I have the expectation of installing apps on it after purchase, and that necessarily involves a relationship with the app store provider (ie. Apple) This is only true because Apple dictates it to be so. The manufacturer of the device should not have a say in what I choose to do with a device I bought. I should be able to install software on a device without asking the manufacturer for permission…

[dead]

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

#402

Post by bob029 »

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…

This developer did actually find screenshots on their TV of everything displayed on their screen, even when they set every available option that's supposed to stop ACR:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LGOLED/s/x8iBNCPya5

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

#403

Post by [deleted] »

abeyer wrote: post #376
wongarsu wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be looking for what's now called a "dumb tv". But those are getting rare, because TVs that can't sell your watch data have to be more expensive to make up for that, and that doesn't sell. Commercial screens are an option, as are computer monitors. Or getting a smart tv and never connecting it to the internet. So far nobody has started shipping TVs with a mobile connection to exfiltrate data, as far as we know.…

> So far nobody has started shipping TVs with a mobile connection to exfiltrate data, as far as we know Yeah, I suspect that it either isn't a big enough segment of the market to make the costs worth it, or they just haven't been caught. Given that it's pretty easy to add amazon sidewalk connectivity to devices with bluetooth radios (which most of these TVs have to support external wireless speakers), I'd be shocked…

[deleted]

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

#404

Post by MrWiffles »

Assuming one even believes this drivel…

It doesn’t matter how it’s done at all, this is still 100% scumbaggery.

I blame two parties: the company, and the lack of law enforcement that goes after that company with fines large enough to end its existence and/or jail time for its executives.

Corporate veil blah blah blah. Antitrust or pierce it. Enough is enough.

It’s high time for an entirely new branch of legal theory and code in the United States: Corporate Criminal Law.

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

#405

Post by dylan604 »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #347
3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have also wondered about the possibility of media emitting some kind of hidden identifier. Can normal speakers emit noise outside of human hearing that could contain a unique id? Would not even need to be a lot of data that could be broadcast.

Yes, it's possible. Some sports broadcasts do this. The ones I'm familiar with use a high pitched tone on the edge of human hearing but still audible to most people. Streaming services watermark the video as opposed to the audio as I understand it. But that's for tracing pirated content back to the originating user account. It's not particularly useful (also entirely unnecessary and overly complicated) if your goal i…

Live broadcasts make it hard for Shazam type apps to ID something from a fingerprint, so they need something else to help.

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

#406

Post by delis-thumbs-7e »

Do not buy a ”smart-TV”, ie. a display with a PC meant to be connected to a network. Anything that has a microphone, camera, speakers is a security hazard and should be only connected to a physically separated local network - I’m discussing AV edge devoces specifically, I espect people here to understand hazards of smart phones etc. I’d say stay clear off of any IoT-devices period. Source: 10 years in AV industry, installed thousands of these. They all suck.

I might add that even though I know better, I have fallen for some smart led lamps etc. I change them with regular bulbs as they break.

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

#407

Post by FabCH »

zephyreon wrote: post #232

> Features such as Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), voice recognition, and interest-based advertising are optional. These features are not enabled by default. Users can choose to enable these features and can manage or withdraw consent through TV settings. They may be optional features but I’m pretty sure when I set up my tv and got to the screen where you are required to agree to the various terms and privacy le…

Gamers Nexus paid a lawyer to read the contract and had one of their staff members try to read the entire thing on the TV.

The lawyers conclusion is that a non-lawyer basically has no chance of correctly interpreting the contract and the TV auto-standby almost made it physically impossible for the staff member to even read it.

The „happy path“ is the only path, for all practical purposes.

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

#408

Post by mesrik »

hilbert42 wrote: post #370
mesrik wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many common SOC's MediaTek, Realtek, and Broadcom SOC's quite often used modern audio capable devices analog pins can be software defined either input or output. IIRC I saw already Bruce Schneider's blog some team proof of concept where they listened using laptop speakers what was spoken in that room. Audio quality wasn't perfect, but it making sense what was spoken was good enough.

"…I saw already Bruce Schneider's blog some team proof of concept where they listened using laptop speakers what was spoken in that room." Users need to know the electrical features of their H/W and its limits. If a loudspeaker output stage is designed (hardware wired) so that it can never act as an input then no later firmware update can turn the speaker into a microphone. This is why hardware authentication is beco…

Right, it's true that if there is an amplifier stage then it doesn't work. But some devices have had also tiny speakers used for for user interface audio feedback mechanism also used beeping error codes etc. Those SoC can drive that kind load of quite well directly and there is just a tiny speaker coil from IO-pins. That kind of speaker can function lousy microphones. That's what that PoC was all about.

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

#409

Post by laylower »

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 corporate shilling. Go back to your manufacturer for a factory reset

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

#410

Post by laylower »

HPsquared wrote: post #184
seemaze wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who hasn’t owned a television in decades, why would a TV even need a microphone in the first place? How many other household devices have a microphone whose primary function is orthogonal to recording audio?

Voice recognition is really useful when searching. It's annoying to type with a TV remote. Also you can just say what you want like "play breaking bad on Netflix" and it'll just do it. Edit: also the mic in the remote has a function to calibrate the speakers to the room (correcting for the impulse response of the room basically) which can make the audio much better.

The reason is annoying to type is that they prefer you say it out loud, not because they can't provide a better ui.
Post reply on HN