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I’m Terrified of My New TV

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Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#81

Post by [deleted] »

rtpg wrote: post #77
tedks wrote: post #47

We need a Butlerian Jihad against surveillance. You know what will never stop this? Posts on hacker news. Letters to your congressman (LG can donate a fuqton more to his re-election campaign than you can). Voting with your dollar (people who know what a privacy policy is are few and far between). You know what will? Taking these TVs into the street, smashing and burning them. Mobs storming Best Buy and smashing the s…

The thing that's missing in this is not that people don't care , it's that a lot of these things are attached to _useful things_. I like my webcam. I can have a skype video chat with someone halfway across the world. Sure, the NSA might watch me in my sleep, and that sucks (I do think rule of law works), but hey. I like that google is data mining my emails. Google Now is amazing, reminds me of things like my flights…

[deleted]

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#82

Post by rtpg »

[deleted] wrote: post #81
rtpg wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that's missing in this is not that people don't care , it's that a lot of these things are attached to _useful things_. I like my webcam. I can have a skype video chat with someone halfway across the world. Sure, the NSA might watch me in my sleep, and that sucks (I do think rule of law works), but hey. I like that google is data mining my emails. Google Now is amazing, reminds me of things like my flights…

[deleted]

I said more comfortable, not comfortable. I'm for legislative pushback on recent actions of the NSA (as have happened in the past with them or the FBI).

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#83

Post by zanny »

pmoriarty wrote: post #68

The author is afraid of his smart TV, but probably doesn't think twice about carrying around a smartphone. Smartphones have virtually all of the capabilities that make the author fear his smart TV, only the smartphone is, if anything, even more dangerous because it is more ubiquitous. People carry their phones around everywhere, and the phones are usually constantly on and equally capable of monitoring your every wor…

If you get hardware without proprietary radios (which, yeah, is impossible) and install only free software on it, you aren't lost.

I use Paranoid Android, and I know my S4 can still use its radio to spy on me, but at least the OS itself isn't.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#84

Post by CurtMonash »

tedks wrote: post #47

We need a Butlerian Jihad against surveillance. You know what will never stop this? Posts on hacker news. Letters to your congressman (LG can donate a fuqton more to his re-election campaign than you can). Voting with your dollar (people who know what a privacy policy is are few and far between). You know what will? Taking these TVs into the street, smashing and burning them. Mobs storming Best Buy and smashing the s…

I disagree, but I upvoted you anyway for the Dune reference.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#85

Post by vacri »

tedks wrote: post #47

We need a Butlerian Jihad against surveillance. You know what will never stop this? Posts on hacker news. Letters to your congressman (LG can donate a fuqton more to his re-election campaign than you can). Voting with your dollar (people who know what a privacy policy is are few and far between). You know what will? Taking these TVs into the street, smashing and burning them. Mobs storming Best Buy and smashing the s…

Pretty sure this will get downvoted because anything outside the blandly acceptable boring-as-fuck politics always gets downvoted.

I love how people set themselves up to 'win' like this if people don't like what they're saying. "If people vote me up, I'm right. If people vote me down, I'm right". Frankly, it's a 'boring-as-fuck' ploy and unfortunately it's on the rise at HN.

Learn to take your lumps like a damned adult, and don't make passive-aggressive remarks about people who might downvote you. People can think that you're full of shit without having to subscribe to mainstream viewpoints.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#86

Post by pmoriarty »

doctorshady wrote: post #76
pmoriarty wrote: post #68

The author is afraid of his smart TV, but probably doesn't think twice about carrying around a smartphone. Smartphones have virtually all of the capabilities that make the author fear his smart TV, only the smartphone is, if anything, even more dangerous because it is more ubiquitous. People carry their phones around everywhere, and the phones are usually constantly on and equally capable of monitoring your every wor…

Not to detract from your point, but wouldn't that apply to cell phones in general?

Yes, but to a lesser extent.

The more powerful and well connected a device is, the less privacy its users tend to have.

Unlike dumb phones, today's smartphones usually have built-in GPS capabilities, with relatively high-speed internet connections, powerful processors, a wealth of apps for their users to put their personal data in, and tight integration with social media.

There was a time when spy agencies would have killed to plant devices with these sorts of surveillance capabilities on their marks. Today billions keep them on their persons at all times -- willingly, gladly even.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#88

Post by saraid216 »

tedks wrote: post #47

We need a Butlerian Jihad against surveillance. You know what will never stop this? Posts on hacker news. Letters to your congressman (LG can donate a fuqton more to his re-election campaign than you can). Voting with your dollar (people who know what a privacy policy is are few and far between). You know what will? Taking these TVs into the street, smashing and burning them. Mobs storming Best Buy and smashing the s…

> But just keep in mind that you need to break a few eggs to make an omelet

No, no. The full quote is, "But you can't make an omelette without ruthlessly crushing dozens of eggs beneath your steel boot and then publicly disemboweling the chickens that laid them as a warning to others."

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#89

Post by zanny »

api wrote: post #22
sean_grant wrote: post #14

Something I've noticed about this however is most tech-literate people who actually care about their privacy tend to leave the wireless disconnected and simply attach the TV to their HTPC device which is from there connected to the internet. Disconnecting it from the internet and possibly even sabotaging the wifi module will ensure that prying eyes will not have access to your information.

It's a two tier world that's coming. Either you know your gear inside and out, or your gear knows you inside and out.

What other option is there? Same could be said about how knowing the internals of your car, or your house, your plumbing system, your electrical connection, hell even your health all matter because not knowing means the providers / maintainers / engineers can take advantage of you.

Caveat emptor doesn't go away with time. And I don't believe trying to use the hammer of legislation on the various hooks of businesses is an effective or even ethical way to try to "solve" it.

Re: I’m Terrified of My New TV

#90

Post by zanny »

0x0 wrote: post #16

Sounds like there would be a market for an openWRT-like firmware hack for these TVs!

There are already several projects that have tried this. Probably most famous is Ubuntu TV. All of them crashed and burned, because the tv vendors have a vested interest in denying you your software freedoms on these things.
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