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Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

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Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#231

Post by bt848 »

beamatronic wrote: post #62
topspin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When can I buy a TV without smart features? There is a limited selection of 'dumb' TVs in the world. The 50-inch Sceptre E505BV-FMQK has no "smart" capabilities and lacks WiFi or Ethernet. The usual advice is to simply not connect the internal "smart" capabilities to anything; disable WiFi and don't connect a Ethernet cable. The built-in host and all the nefarious crap it wants to run can't reach anything unless yo…

Marketing opportunity! Sell “Privacy TVs”

Hey, you're not wrong. "Privacy screen" displays that have been available on PC laptops for years are nothing but obsolete panels with terrible viewing angles. You can definitely charge more for something less good.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#232

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

huhtenberg wrote: post #11
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #8

Android phones talk to Facebook too even if you don't have an account or any of their apps.

Source?

Facebook.com will show up in NoRoot Firewall after a factory restore. For me the "MyPhone" system component does it as well as the default camera app.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#233

Post by xcgfhgjbjhb »

reilly3000 wrote: post #226
xcgfhgjbjhb wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked on that. It sends audio and/or video fingerprints (not frames, for privacy and bandwidth reasons), which are matched against a fingerprint database. Whatever people see on TV is usually 10 to 60 seconds behind the real live stream at the broadcaster (which is where the reference fingerprinting happens). GeoIP data can be used to roughly deduce where the TV is located, in order to better filter out false posi…

Is that mainly for ad attribution purposes?

Depends on the manufacturer. Some use it to get you to use their other services. Some use it for second screen apps. Others for various on-screen info. Not sure of all use cases. I don't think the data was ever used for targeted tracking.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#234

Post by sk5t »

bduerst wrote: post #228
phreack wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was the Vizio CTO, while trying to spin it positively it came out a bit too honest. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190114/08084341384/vizio...

This is kind of spot on to Succession 's "ATN News: We're listening"

"We hear... for you."

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#236

Post by RandomBacon »

nyolfen wrote: post #218
markovbot wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, don't buy samsung TVs on principal.

i have read repeatedly on this site that it is effectively impossible to buy a new dumb tv unless you get the kind of commercial ones meant for installation on walls in commercial buildings etc

You can find them on Amazon pretty easily. That's how I bought my 4k dumb TV.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#237

Post by pmart123 »

mikeryan wrote: post #50

This is a pretty open secret within the industry. Geographic data can be provided via setup (a lot of TV's ask for a zip code on setup) or usually simply via GeoIP lookup. Dig a bit deeper and you get into service provided by Samba TV and or Inscape and you can find that they're sending back frames of video in a lot of cases to track what you're watching. This data is becoming a huge mechanism for subsidizing TV sale…

This headline seems a bit sensational in trying to blame favorite privacy scapegoat, Facebook. I would first blame the device maker for selling such data, but I bet half the reason this occurs is due to figuring out which CDN to use given Akamai is one of the companies receiving the most data?

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#238

Post by RandomBacon »

macNchz wrote: post #189
BowBun wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck in 5 years, there will likely only be an option or two left and they will be as shitty as today's flip-phones. A few years ago I was in the market for a TV and was flabbergasted as to why I couldn't get a nice, big, 'dumb' TV.

Yeah I intentionally bought a dumb TV instead of a smart TV five years ago... recently started thinking about whether it might be interesting to upgrade to a 4k and/or OLED model before discovering that they’re ALL smart.

Amazon sells dumb 4K TVs.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#239

Post by jchrome »

Silhouette wrote: post #167
obmelvin wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roku enabled TVs very clearly send back frames of what you are watching. I've been watching YouTube casted via chromecast plugged into HDMI (NOT the built in chromecast, I have verified multiple times) and the Roku will give me a full width toast saying to press `*` to watch the full movie or some similar contextual option I was pretty put off the first time this happened. That said, I don't even know if I looked thr…

Are you sure about this? If the TV really is phoning home with whatever is on the screen, including anything personal the owner might happen to be displaying, that's a vast set of lawsuits waiting to happen. The GDPR fines alone could be staggering. I could easily imagine spyware logging whatever TV shows you're streaming and the like, but it's hard to imagine any business in this industry having lawyers dumb enough…

It’s called ACR data and it’s very common. And yes, TVs are phoning home with it.

And GDPR only requires that you opt in. So when you sign into the TV for the first time, it gives you an opt in choice and many do it. The States is less regulated but will be soon.

Re: Smart TVs sending sensitive user data to Netflix and Facebook

#240

Post by rodgerd »

sjwright wrote: post #220
move-on-by wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any way to turn it off? Or perhaps block a specific domain via pihole?

Don’t let your TV access the internet at all. Smart TV interfaces are almost uniformly worse than set top boxes (one or more of: bad UI, slow CPU, weird quirks, few updates) so you should avoid it anyway. The current Apple TV (which I cite only because of familiarity) has a great UI, every major app, and robust HDMI-CEC support so you might never have to touch your TV’s remote again. And Apple respects your privacy.

Some smart TVs will join open networks if you don't give them one. And I expect that if 5G works as advertised you'll see surveillance capitalism adding 5G connectivity so you no longer have control over connectivity.
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