Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

Post by paggle » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:21 PM UTC

lrem wrote: post #53

throw03172019 wrote: post #36

I disabled WiFi on my Samsung TV after they were injecting ads into the home screen. Spend $800 to get ads served in their shitty/slow UI.

An acquaintance attempted that with Kindle, by keeping it in flight mode. After some days it popped up a message kindly asking to give it some network access. After a few more days it simply ignored the flight mode and connected to get fresh ads. Edit: I've checked with my wife who has an ad supported Kindle for over a year and keeps it in flight mode for months at a time. It never did that to her. So either Amazon c…

Post by markovbot » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:29 PM UTC

dvdbloc wrote: post #106

throw03172019 wrote: post #36

I disabled WiFi on my Samsung TV after they were injecting ads into the home screen. Spend $800 to get ads served in their shitty/slow UI.

Pro tip for other people with 2019 and 2018 Samsung Smart TVs, if you back out of the network config and never set it up during the initial config or after a factory reset the TV will never show any ads and will never have the annoying icons for its own apps in the menus. If you attempt to use these features the TV will kindly remind you that you are not connected to the internet/have no accepted the user agreement.…

Post by Marsymars » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:44 PM UTC

throw03172019 wrote: post #36

I disabled WiFi on my Samsung TV after they were injecting ads into the home screen. Spend $800 to get ads served in their shitty/slow UI.

Post by seehafer » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:47 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #121

arcticbull wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flight mode exists because the FAA applies unsafe-until-proven-safe methodology to everything flight related (as they should). If flight mode mattered at all planes would be falling out of the sky on the regular, many people just leave their phones on the whole trip. The only reason I turn my phone off is because it wastes a lot of battery as it tries to manage tower hopping the whole time. Planes are getting blasted…

IIRC there isn't a problem for most of the flight; but right as you're ascending/descending your phone can end up getting a very weak line-of-sight connection to a whole bunch of cell towers at once, which causes a few different problems, but all of which come down to "it makes both your phone, and all the towers, shout really loudly at one-another to try to achieve a circuit." Which, sure, means that there might be…

Post by Marsymars » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 11:49 PM UTC

nicwolff wrote: post #37

kminehart wrote: post #3

When can I buy a TV without smart features? I don't doubt that my smart TV is reporting some data about my usage, but I barely have a choice in the matter.

I bought an LG OLED commercial signage display. It's just a 55" panel, 1/4" thick, with a ribbon cable to a power-and-control box with one HDMI port. No internet or wifi connection; the software just lets you use the remote to configure the display. Into it I plugged a Denon HEOS receiver, which is WiFi-connected for the purposes of serving as a Spotify and AirPlay output device, and which drives wired and wireless s…