I’m Terrified of My New TV

#1

Post by pastycrinkles » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 2:37 AM UTC

I’m Terrified of My New TV
brennancenter.org

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#2

Post by walterbell » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:00 AM UTC

Display projectors are more flexible, easier to secure and it's possible to upgrade the separate media/compute component.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#3

Post by socceroos » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:10 AM UTC

Yep. This is reason #1 why I haven't upgraded from my 'dumb' LCD TV yet. Give me root access and open firmware drivers and then we can talk.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#4

Post by uptown » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:16 AM UTC

I think the always watching/listening thing is the major hurdle a lot of these devices are going to have to overcome before a lot of people feel comfortable inviting them into their homes.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#5

Post by userbinator » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:25 AM UTC

uptown wrote: post #4

I think the always watching/listening thing is the major hurdle a lot of these devices are going to have to overcome before a lot of people feel comfortable inviting them into their homes.

Unfortunately a lot of people are not going to read the privacy policies or even care about what their TV is doing beyond "it works" and being drawn in by the promise of convenience and new features... it's to the advantage of the companies doing this that their users remain as complacent and unknowing as possible.

This isn't even the government forcing mass-surveillance devices on its citizens; it's the citizens accepting and installing mass-surveillance devices themselves -- which in some ways is quite a bit more disturbing than the government doing it.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#6

Post by mhb » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:27 AM UTC

No mention of which TV?

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#7

Post by rickdale » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:29 AM UTC

I have one of the latest sony televisions. I think of the internet features as something for newbs. I would never even consider putting my tv on my network. It doesn't have a camera for facial recognition or the mic for talk to use. It's a really nice tv though and I can access all the functionality and settings without accessing the internet. This aricle is a bit overblown, but I get the point. There is a reason my xbox one's kinnect will never see the light of day.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#8

Post by dsugarman » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:30 AM UTC

a lot of these are inherent on the laptop you wrote this with coupled with using the internet in general.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#9

Post by joelrunyon » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:31 AM UTC

> In the meantime, I’ll be in the market for a new tinfoil hat and cone of silence.

I know this is meant as a pseudo-joke and I know there are going to be a ton of comments here on why the guy is overreacting, but is the tin foil hat really useful anymore? We have demonstrated proof that things like this have been exploited on purpose in the past few years.

Instead of the tin foil being representative of the crazy person - it now almost seems like common sense. Is that scary to anyone else?

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#10

Post by dubfan » Fri, Oct 31, 2014, 3:31 AM UTC

I was in the market for a new TV last year, and I found it difficult to find one that wasn't loaded with "smart" features. I didn't want the smart features since I already had a home theater PC, which I built myself. Plus from my limited prior experience with smart TVs, the UX on those is just awful. I didn't even consider the privacy issues, although I should have considering the Snowden leaks had just hit the news. Lucky me, the TV I ended up with was one of the LG Smart TVs that was caught leaking file names from USB devices (HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6759426).

Edit: It was also logging network folders. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6778397