LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps • Hacker News Board

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#341

Post by mancerayder » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 12:59 PM UTC

After some research I went with a Sony Bravia. The screen is ridiculously reflective which is unusable next to any window at certain angles, and it wasn't the cheapest, but after some research since it uses that Google TV crap and has no splash screens, I could keep WiFi off on it and use my Apple TV.

TCL and now LG are to be fully avoided, Samsung isn't to be trusted (a future update if you allow it can lead to what happened here with LG). Samsung probably has the best hardware, but too bad.

If we don't vote with our wallets the enshittification of everything tech will march over and trample us that much faster.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#342

Post by mancerayder » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:02 PM UTC

cynicalsecurity wrote: post #213

mastazi wrote: post #198

I am afraid that my dumb TV, which I've been holding onto for many years, might be on its last leg. I remember seeing privacy guides for smart TVs over the years, does anyone know a place with up to date info? Most 55inch monitors are now "smart" sadly, so are most "digital signage" products. So there is no longer a way to get a true dumb panel at least over 50 inch EDIT I am in Australia, there might be products tha…

You can easily turn dumb mode on any smart TV.

Some have long splash screens and nag screens to punish those not on Wifi. TCL I believe was doing this, and I've read scattered reports of that behavior. Do research beforehand just in case.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#343

Post by account42 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:09 PM UTC

tosti wrote: post #322

account42 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How old are these and how often / how long are they turned on? My OLED TV is over two years old now without any issues even though it gets frequent usage.

I don't buy a TV every 2 years, that's absurd. If I buy a TV, it better work for > 10 years.

You are attacking a straw man instead of answering the question.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#344

Post by CyberDildonics » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:17 PM UTC

drnick1 wrote: post #128

CyberDildonics wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can intercept normal DNS with iptables rules. The best way to deal with a TV you don't trust is what no one wants to hear. Open up the back and disconnect the wifi antenna. It is easy to open them up and everything is pretty simple and obvious once you do.

> Open up the back and disconnect the wifi antenna. Upvoted. This is precisely the kind of thing I expect to read on HN.

It's not even some difficult technical task like people think. The back of a TV is kind of like a PC but much simpler.

There is the power board (AC to DC conversion for electronics and leds), video input board (where you plug in HDMI etc) and a t-con board, which takes a single video signal in from the input board and drives the LCD screen.

Then there are a few ancillary components like speakers, maybe a roku module etc. There are easy to find and everything is modular. You can take the speakers out and use them somewhere else if you want. You can just disconnect the wifi antennae on the smart tv board and be done with it. You can also find the IR led connection that the remote sends signals to.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#345

Post by redeeman » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:26 PM UTC

account42 wrote: post #293

redeeman wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the method you describe is clearly only done by people that are irresponsible and most probably stupid. and no, this is not how most software is installed

I agree https://rustup.rs/

very very stupid yes, and there are some other high profile softwares encouraging this brainrot, but, still not most.

anyone doing this should really take a very very big look in the mirror

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#346

Post by vablings » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

throw0101a wrote: post #300

mapt wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Smart TVs replaced dumb TVs not out of consumer demand […] The consumer demand was/is for cheaper, and data mining is how OEMs got there. The general public got what they want, and OEMs got to keep their margins: "win-win". It's the same thing with (US?) airlines: people wanted cheaper, and that's what was offered and they chose.

Faustian barging, the worst part is people are simple unaware of the dealings

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#347

Post by fc417fc802 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

amiga386 wrote: post #318

quotemstr wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is clear that LG is talking about banning all proxies, even voluntarily installed ones. A smart TV is a computer. Why should the owner of a computer not be allowed to run any program he wants?

That is not the case. The article is quite clear that LG runs an "app store" where 42% of the "apps" likely contain residential proxies, and LG is going to make its "app store" developers stop doing that. From TFA: > “A residential proxy network is not an intended use for LG smart TVs, and LG Electronics is working with developers to remove the residential proxy option from their apps on the webOS platform,” Taylor s…

It very much is the case. Your own quote contradicts you. A smart tv is definitely a computer (one of the selling points is literally that it runs arbitrary apps) and LG is declaring that this "is not an intended use for LG smart TVs" and banning it.

There is certainly a conversation to be had regarding consumer protection laws, the nature of an appliance, and the trade-offs thereof but this is not that conversation and I don't think you engaged in good faith with the comment you replied to.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#348

Post by iso1631 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 1:46 PM UTC

regexorcist wrote: post #247

iso1631 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only reason LG doesn't have adverts is by forcing it to use a pihole, but even that needs updating -- recently they've managed to push things through and I need to do another investigation to see what needs blocking. Trouble is I only see them when I'm not in the mood to be working, and then forget about them

They hardcode DNS servers into the TV. You need a firewall in front of the pihole intercepting that traffic, I use OpenWrt.

I nat all my dns traffic to the pihole, but looking at the logs my lg tv is using the dhcp provided ones.

Of course DOH would break that but I don't get the feeling it's bypassing it.

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#349

Post by Rubberducky1324 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 2:11 PM UTC

lwkl wrote: post #319

0xblinq wrote: post #64

I'm very worried with all this bullshit around TVs. I've been running the same Samsung UE40C6530 since 2010. It's 16 f'ng years and the thing works flawlessly like the first day. No other electronic device in my life worked so well, during so long. But I'm about to move to a new home, and it feels like it's about time to get something more modern, at least a 4k TV. But I'm honestly totally lost at what to buy. I do n…

At least with Samsung TVs you can block them from accessing the internet after setting up the TV. Just use an Apple TV or Chromecast device after that.

I have an LG G5. I don't remember if I needed internet access to set it up, but currently I keep it offline and just use an Nvidia Shield (which is better anyway). No ACR, tracking, ads, ... in the TV itself.

By doing this you basically get a subsidized TV without paying with your data :D

Re: LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps

#350

Post by RiverCrochet » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 2:34 PM UTC

dhosek wrote: post #57

baby_souffle wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not unheard of in cities. Hotels and shopping malls have them. Some residential ISPs will also broadcast a public access point using a slice of each customer's bandwidth allocation...

When I had Comcast internet, I could get on those, but it required a network profile to actually connect to the internet. That said, I wouldn’t put it past TV makers and Comcast to collude on using this to allow backdoor network exfiltration.

TV makers would have to collude with every ISP for that to be worth depending on.

Not to say it couldn't happen - but it wouldn't be a backdoor thing, it'd be very up front. All that's needed is for ISPs to create/join some SSO-like standard that lets you use ISP credentials as smart TV credentials (e.g. Your Xfinity account is automatically your Vizio account, sign on with your Xfinity account to get free streaming deals now).

I feel like if TVs start doing that, they'll display a network ID and signal bars at the top of the screen like cell phones do, so the TV maker doesn't get blamed for ISP problems.