Thanks for the heads up, LG.
Those cheap/discount tv brands make soo much sense these days
LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
141–150 of 549 posts
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#142Stop hooking up your LG tv to any network
Never once had a problem with an LG because I've never given it internet access. A trustworthy set top box handles everything instead. Concerned that might not be an option in the future.
LG now installs adware when you merely connect one of their monitors to a Windows PC.
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is my problem. What can you trust anymore? Is there an appliance out there that can do the basics and not be a malware gateway?
Smart TVs replaced dumb TVs not out of consumer demand, but out of subsidy from commercial databrokers and streaming services. Despite adding $100 of hardware they were priced $100 cheaper.
I'm always wondering how hard it would be to just remove the hardware for spying. Just keep enough hardware to make it a dumb panel, remove the webos logic boards, wifi antenna, etc.
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
reasonably important, if you're never connecting your lg tv to any network, and just connecting it to an AppleTV or something and letting HDMI-CEC control it so you never even see their OS.
I would suggest a mini-PC running Linux and Plasma Bigscreen instead of an AppleTV if you want something 100% private and user-controlled.
Do you recommend any specific distro for this?
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately they make arguably the best OLEDs and webOS is pretty decent to use (especially compared to the terrible OS that Samsung and Sony run). I think the best thing people can do is update their firmware then disconnect it from the internet. Using an AppleTV or similar provides a better experience than any TVs built in apps anyway.
How important is "the best" OLED vs the second best or 100th best OLED? I am personally ok not buying the bleeding edge to not get malware onto my OS.
2nd best, not. 100th, better to get a great LCD than a junk OLED?
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#146Stop buying "smart" TV
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
yet? I guess with more and more consumer devices running Linux based OSes (SteamOS, Android, Bazzite, Silverblue, ..) that becomes more and more interesting. And unfortunately the "I'm safe on my non-windows-system" argument doesn't count for long, as the 99% muggle crowd justifies a shift to a world where our non-certified (=> 'insecure') systems are not supported by big companies anymore, as it's currently happenin…
The LG scandal specifically relies on the fact windows will auto install OEM crapware as soon as you plug it in. No other OS does that.
Huh? What does WebOS have to do with windows?
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why I’m a bit conflicted about DoH and ODoH. Firefox and Chrome have defaulted to DoH for years if I’m not mistaken (although I’m in Europe so I believe my FF still uses regular DNS instead of DoH by default). This also means that DoH effectively sends all your queries to CloudFlare on FF. Chrome is slightly smarter and tries to map your DNS provider to a DoH implementation if known.
I have my router set with iptables rules to block/redirect all port 53 and you can also add known DoH to a blocklist to try and force LAN devices to use your router DNS.
I have a separate lan for untrusted devices, I only use whitelisting. No public DNS for these devices.
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#149Is there a (technical) difference between a residential proxy and bot network node?
Residential proxies operated by "legitimate" providers can only open TCP connections, which more or less rules out DDoS attacks, which seem to be the most common use of botnets. (And all tcp connections typically have to go through the proxy providers datacenter first to get through NAT, which effectively limits the total amount of traffic/connections you can make)
Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another win for the Linux security model (software installed and updated manually from vetted repos only).
Wait, you're saying a monitor can just advertise a URL over the video connection for its driver and then Windows will blindly install it, without user confirmation? I thought that LG had submitted these "drivers" (adware) to Microsoft and they approved it.
I believe you register your device with Microsoft so Windows can automatically obtain and install drivers for them when they are plugged in.
What LG sent in for installation is not a simple .inf or .sys/.dll file. They sent in a whole bag of software which does all the nasty things, and Microsoft doesn't vet or care about the software installed as the "driver" of the hardware.