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

Post by account42 » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 12:54 PM UTC

brigade wrote: post #206

al_borland wrote: post #3

They say these features are opt-in and they reject dark patterns, but in my experience setting up LG TVs, everything was opt-in and I had to manually hunt through all the menus to turn this stuff off. Their statements don’t align with the reality I’ve experienced as a customer. My TV is not connected to the network, because the setup process left me with 0 trust that LG wouldn’t be collecting information regardless o…

For like a decade, the "opt-in" to ACR was included in the ToS agreement needed to use any smart features. Then at least some brands made the opt-in separate, but made it look like a recommendation engine or "help us improve your experience" agreement. LG adopted the "Maybe Later" dark pattern for opt-in to ACR, at least in some markets. Though I guess you never know for sure with A/B testing.

Post by lazide » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 1:18 PM UTC

wat10000 wrote: post #498

lazide wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m pointing out that has literally nothing to do with LAN or Wifi. It’s a problem with having literally any (unfiltered) network access at all. Though even filtered, you’re susceptible to bypass attacks. Notably, a device can even route all command and control through a cloud service, including sending copies/hashes of all accessed content AND also serve just local (as in physically connected) media/content, if it h…

And if everything goes through the manufacturer’s servers then you have to give it internet access for it to work at all. If it works over then LAN then you at least have the option to block it without disabling the functionality.

Post by wat10000 » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

lazide wrote: post #503

wat10000 wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if everything goes through the manufacturer’s servers then you have to give it internet access for it to work at all. If it works over then LAN then you at least have the option to block it without disabling the functionality.

Again with the ‘works over the LAN’. What do you think that actually means, because I keep explaining that doesn’t mean what you seem to think it does, and then you keep repeating it in a context which doesn’t make any sense.

Post by felixgallo » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

djeastm wrote: post #229

felixgallo wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how LG is doing it, but I suspect that they are taking the same approach for wakewords as Alexa does/did. When I worked for Alexa, it was public knowledge that we used relatively inexpensive and low power chips dedicated to wakeword detection, and those would wake up the main chips if they believed that they heard the wakeword. To my understanding, we did this because doing cloud-based wakeword detection…

>voice recordings and data were treated as essentially radioactive waste, deleted as soon as legally possible Is this what is done with the "Audio was not intended for this device" entries in the Review Alexa History section of the Alexa app?

Post by ethagnawl » Mon, Sep 14, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

fn-mote wrote: post #179

ethagnawl wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People always dismiss this as FUD but it's been happening to me more than ever. I know in many cases it is more likely that firms are acquiring purchase histories and location data but that doesn't explain other incidents. For example, last week I was complaining to my spouse about shoulder pain and how I was afraid I may need another surgery. YouTube has suddenly starting flooding my feed with videos about "shoulder…

The alternative explanation is that your spouse searched up something related to your situation. That’s the next possibility to eliminate. I am positive I get ads based on the interests of other people the wifi where I live.