A friend was working at an adtech company over a decade ago, processing smart tv data. Needless to say he advised buying the dumbest tv possible.
216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
471–480 of 1001 posts
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#472The title undersells it. The TV has multiple mics that can't be disabled, they constantly record everything and upload transcripts in plain text. It gathers data and metadata of all devices on the network, including IP addresses. And even analyzes network data to understand which applications are being run.
This should be grounds for a class-action lawsuit. It’s lying, it’s scummy, it’s an abuse of consumer trust, and it’s written off LG as a company to do business with. I’m surprised we aren’t already seeing DPAs in the EU take on LG.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#473After researching a new TV (where it only needs an Apple TV, no so-called smart features for spying purposes) the three contenders were Samsung, LG and Sony Bravia (the higher end models). Samsung was the least trustworthy, having played games with firmware updates and adding telemetry, LG was medium trustworthy, and Sony seemed the least likely. It looks like that heuristic was correct. For the Bravia, I put it on w…
Just keep the TV completely disconnected and use something like an Apple TV.
What makes you think the Apple TV isn't also spying on you? It almost certainly is collecting telemetry too. Whether that's more or less than LG I don't know, but my preference is a Linux box with Plasma Bigscreen.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#474After researching a new TV (where it only needs an Apple TV, no so-called smart features for spying purposes) the three contenders were Samsung, LG and Sony Bravia (the higher end models). Samsung was the least trustworthy, having played games with firmware updates and adding telemetry, LG was medium trustworthy, and Sony seemed the least likely. It looks like that heuristic was correct. For the Bravia, I put it on w…
Just keep the TV completely disconnected and use something like an Apple TV.
Now you're trusting Apple to not enshittify your TV with a firmware update. Even modern set-top boxes are so awful that I understand why everyone moved on to phones/computers.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#475Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends on jurisdiction, just because someone wrote something in a contract doesn’t mean it’s binding. In Poland/EU we have an (ever growing) list of forbidden clauses that even when written and signed by consumer are null and void. And I think these can be enacted retroactively - when corporations invent new shady clauses, government steps in and tells them these are invalid. This helps to even out the consumer-corp…
That’s great! Because then you’re left with the simple task of raising it up with the government.
It’s actually the judiciary you’d bring it up with, I believe.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#476After researching a new TV (where it only needs an Apple TV, no so-called smart features for spying purposes) the three contenders were Samsung, LG and Sony Bravia (the higher end models). Samsung was the least trustworthy, having played games with firmware updates and adding telemetry, LG was medium trustworthy, and Sony seemed the least likely. It looks like that heuristic was correct. For the Bravia, I put it on w…
> Folks, never update a TV firmware unless it's necessary. Why would a TV ever need a firmware update? Either it works out of the box or it doesn't and I return it. I never updated the firmware of my PC monitor either.
security updates ?
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#477Earlier quoted context omitted.
Works til they put a 5g modem in the damn things. My Samsung asked for internet access and I just laughed and said nope. It exists to displays pixels from a Linux box, utterly sick of living in a world where "is my TV manufacturer bugging our house?" Is a thing anyone has to ask.
> It exists to displays pixels from a Linux box, If you're not using the defining feature of a TV (the OTA tuner), why not buy a monitor instead of a TV? (Next time I have to replace our house's TV, I'm seriously considering buying a separate SBTVD tuner and a monitor instead of a TV, if ignoring the "smart" features of these TVs by not connecting them to a network starts getting too difficult.)
Many 75" monitors on the market?
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#478I've bought an LG Smart TV 5 years ago, read t&c where I was supposed to grant them any data they wanted, decided to disagree and kept all network functions disabled. I was ridiculed by my friends for that. At some point, I thought - maybe I'm really crazy to do so? Who am I, a caveman, a luddite? Oh well, I'm not. Not a bad tv though, many HDMI ports!
Mine is still attached to the network, but I’ve turned off all the ad/customisation &AI stuff. Seems to work fine, no ads etc. though usually I’m using it simply as a screen for the AppleTV. I do have it isolated from other devices on my network, though.
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Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#479Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just keep the TV completely disconnected and use something like an Apple TV.
Now you're trusting Apple to not enshittify your TV with a firmware update. Even modern set-top boxes are so awful that I understand why everyone moved on to phones/computers.
Anything that you use to show stuff on your tv is gonna have this problem. Apple is a little higher on the trust spectrum than, say, Roku. You’re paying Apple in part for the convenience of not doing a homebrew setup, and in part for the trust.
Re: 216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]
#480Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you noticed that on many home routers there is now a default open, sometimes password protective network named AT&T or Cox Wi-Fi? That’s the backhaul. The TV will join that automatically without asking you because they have an agreement with the network provider. This is how tons of devices phone home now. You don’t ever need to add a device on your network for it to have internet. If there’s a partner Wi-Fi net…
The TV will join that automatically without asking you because they have an agreement with the network provider. This seems far fetched to me. Have you seen evidence or reliable reporting of this?
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