It’s not just LG. Every TV company is spying on you

Gamers Nexus said that they assume other brands are just as bad but they only wanted to spend the funds for the one company

A bit beyond that, though, if pressed, they'll say they NEED to do it to remain competitive. That's their reasoning behind every evil thing they do. On the rare occasion they call for some law to restrict the industry, it's because their company is having trouble competing.

They'll do anything to profit that isn't explicitly against the law in whatever country they operate in. But they will also do things against the law if the penalty isn't high enough to stop them. They will take into account the social penalty, but if the profit is high, and they run a virtual monopoly, then the social costs are almost always outweighed.

They take everything into consideration but have zero empathy or morals, so that never enters the equation. Profit is all that matters.

100%

Until there is real regulation (which in this case, may actually happen) that is what you should be assuming.

I'm concerned you may not even need to connect it to the internet. It may be enough for a neighbor to leave their WiFi unsecured. The TV may very well watch for one and use it to upload.

Oh shit I accidentally clicked accept on the terms for voice and I'm incredibly inebriated.

Well worth watching the whole thing.

Typing on a TV remote is a miserable experience but we've already solved that problem just put a damn keyboard on the remote already

Personally I have a smart litter box triggering an exhaust fan for 10 minutes every time it cycles.

My A/C turns off if you leave the patio door open for a couple minutes.

I have a light upstairs that I turn red when I'm in an important meeting, like an On Air button.

The foyer light turns on when you open the front door at night.

There are useful things to be done, and most of my info doesn't leave the house.

Matter over Thread with Home Assistant is the smarthome tech I'd recommend.

With that setup it all stays local. You can even block everything from the internet, unless you want to do an update.

It will work with Google/Apple/Alexa, but of course as soon as you do that... well, that's the point of running Home Assistant instead.

There are smart switches and fans and other switchable devices that are controlled through schedule and manual BT switches and ir sensors - rather than voice. I can use voice to control things but I prefer the lights to match my day without my interactions being necessary.

people are stupid and lazy. that's it. they want the easiest way to do anything because their 'time is valuable' apparently... like cooking... people use Uber for some dumb ass reason, then wonder why they are always broke. but ya know... they saved 30 minutes which was wasted doing fuckall but doom scrolling shitty websites

Consumers normalized this decades ago when they started buying all this stuff despite the warnings. People have been selling our collective freedom for what amounts to toys.

Entertainment hardware vendors? Dude, it is just a monitor. I don't agree with their practices, but I also don't understand why someone would connect a TV to the internet.

But hey: some people want to play Doom on their fridge. shrug

FYI the default blocklist included with PiHole does not block smart TVs. Strongly recommend Perflyst SmartTV List:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Perflyst/PiHoleBlocklist/master/SmartTV.txt

Can they be rooted? I'm honestly about to throw them out.

See the same on my pi-hole. Chromecast is especially evil.

Yeah. I think that is overkill. They leave the voice tied to a button so they don't have to filter out background for a command. This is just cost driven and so far cost of manufacture still drives companies ... Not data gained through background monitoring. Your data is valuable but not THAT valuable yet

What the fuck is with all this new jargon: pixels instead of tracking-pixels? Pixel technology! You mean loading of a image with a resolution of 1x1. What technology?

These 'options' fundamentally don't work. Even if they were in good-faith one of their partners will still collect and transmit data you've generated. The whole industry is built on a no-consent model: it's software; people can't see or hear what software is doing; keep it in the background. Any attempt to revoke consent in a no-consent industry is futile. What's not futile is taking control of your computers and not running their proprietary spyware software in the first place.

Want to delete my data... log in to my account to do it... phone number required before allowing me access to delete my data 😑

It prompts you to accept all cookies, with no options. Ironic.

Not until we end it, together.

All people had to do was say no to "smart tvs" But "Android pretty" I'm not innocent because I have a Bluray player with apps, but it does require an Ethernet cord so that's helpful.

My car is pretty old, so this may not work for everyone, but I can pull the fuse that powers the modem, then program the carnet or whatever VW calls it so it doesn't expect to find a modem. All you need is an ELM327 dongle and one of the apps. (Car Scanner Pro is like $8 and a single payment.)

It's hard to find dumb TV. But you can just use a smart TV without connecting it to the internet.

Why do these types of comments keep getting upvoted when they’re fundamentally virtue signalling with nothing of substance?

If people shouldn’t buy a smart tv, are you suggesting no tv at all? Or a business display that’s not as good for gaming and other media?

Or do you actually have a suggestion for a non-smart tv made with current technology?

Not my projector “flat” screen TV!

here i am still using tv from 1990 XD

Would you mind syncing that to peertube, mate? There's https://makertube.net/ , https://dalek.zone/ , https://indymotion.fr/ , https://peertube.wtf/, https://tilvids.com/ and many others

Or a cheap Chinese projector and a Linux laptop.

Back in the day, that would be hooked up to a cable box. Those allllll had microphones in them. (They may have even had cameras and thats why they always wanted to use line of sight remotes so they wouldnt be blocked behind something)

Just put it on a power strip and turn that off. Just a little easier, I think. You're welcome.

If it's online while on it's... an improvement I guess.

I can share the pihole domains I have for my samsung tv (although it's no longer connected to the internet now)

• ocfconnect-shard-eu[0-9]{2}-euwest1.samsungiotcloud.com (regex deny)
• ads.samsungads.com (exact deny)
• samsungacr.com (exact deny)
• samsungotn.net (exact deny)
• log-config.samsungacr.com (exact deny)
• gpm.samsungqbe.com (exact deny)
• config.samsungads.com (exact deny)

It stopped any ads coming through and also prevent (some) data going back to them, mind you this also breaks installing new apps on the tv, so disable, install app from their store, enable again.

Hope this helps

http://archive.today/KYA9w

It’s not just LG. Every TV company is spying on you

Not every smart TV is as easily hackable as Gamers Nexus says LG’s are, but they’re all tracking what you watch unless you opt out.

The TV world has been a pot of controversy thanks to a two-hour-and-15-minute video from Gamers Nexus claiming LG TVs are nefariously spying on everything you do. They can record and store audio even when they seem to be off, track everything you watch, and could even be hacked remotely and turned into covert surveillance devices. LG TV owners, and tech enthusiasts in general, are furious, and a hurried response from LG has done little to calm the situation.

Some of the claims in the video may be based on speculation and assumptions, but many of the core concerns are real and pervasive. While LG was the focus of the video, every TV company is tracking what you do, collecting that data, and sharing it with its partners. And we agree to it — even if we don’t realize it.

TV prices have come down significantly over the years, to the point where some companies are selling them at a loss. But they make up that shortfall selling user behavior data they collect from the OS. It’s why Walmart bought Vizio in 2024.

There’s a lot going on in the Gamers Nexus video, but we’ll start with the part pretty much everyone making TVs is doing: tracking what you watch, when you watch, where you watch, and how you watch to sell you things about it all. Automatic content recognition (ACR) systems are built into just about every modern TV and can identify the content playing through built-in streaming apps and over the TV’s ports by grabbing snippets of audio or video, converting them into digital fingerprints, and sending them to a database for identification. It’s what allows a TV to make content recommendations, as well as feed you ads based on your viewing habits. It’s also one way companies like Nielsen can track viewership across platforms and services.

In order for TVs to capture this information, you need to agree to it. One of Gamers Nexus’ complaints in the video is that this consent is often buried in confusing and lengthy agreements that you need to accept in order to use the TV, and that companies often use dark patterns or deceptive designs to get users to agree to things without realizing they didn’t have to. For example, the Gamers Nexus video showed an LG TV displaying six different user agreements, including one consenting to ACR, and automatically putting the cursor on “Select All” when only two agreements are required to continue.

As a TV reviewer, I have to deal with end-user license agreements (EULA) and privacy policies on every product I review. And while it might be a losing battle because of the sheer number of TVs and other smart devices that come through my apartment, I take steps to try and protect my privacy. I have a burner Gmail account that is used solely for signing into apps and the TV’s operating system. Initially, I only accept the legally required documents for the TV to work properly so I can run my picture quality tests — both Calman and test discs. I never agree to automatic content recognition, which is referred to by names including Enhanced Viewing, Smart TV Experience, and Samba Interactive TV.

I also dig through all of the menus, partly to become familiar with all the settings available, but also to make sure any ad or data tracking is toggled off. When I need to test voice control, I’ll then accept the voice recognition agreements before testing functionality. And since this is usually the last thing I do in my test process, this is followed by a factory reset before sending the TV back to the manufacturer. If you’re worried about privacy, don’t use voice control. Or if you do, only use the one on a separate streaming box from a brand you trust.

I recommend the same for everyone with a smart TV. Have a dedicated email for logging in to TVs (and, if possible, your streaming apps) that isn’t connected to your personal email. When setting up the TV, only agree to whatever’s necessary for the TV to run if you want to use its OS. And after setup, go through all the menu options to make sure any ad tracking is off, and read the menu prompts closely, as the wording is sometimes confusing (probably intentionally so). Consumer Reports has a great, although slightly older guide to limiting data collection from the different TV manufacturers.

To take it a step further, turn off Wi-Fi and unplug the Ethernet cable from the TV and essentially use it as a dumb TV (the Vizio Mini LED Quantum I reviewed is the best at this). Then, plug in your third-party streaming device of choice. I use an Apple TV 4K. Not because I don’t think Apple harvests any data, but because it doesn’t use ACR and I trust its security protocols more than I do any of the TV manufacturers or Google.

Apple does still offer content recommendation based on what you watch, download, browse, and subscribe to in the Apple TV app. This can be turned off in settings by going to Apps -> TV -> Use Play History -> Off. For third-party apps, such as Netflix or Disney Plus, Apple gives users the option to “Ask App Not to Track,” which blocks the app’s developer from accessing the system advertising identifier. Keep in mind that every streaming service does track your usage within its own app and tie it to your login; many streaming boxes do too.

A good chunk of the Gamers Nexus video focused on broader security concerns and what appear to be much more egregious privacy violations from LG. That includes recording video and audio from the room even when the TV appeared to be off, sending information about the local network to LG’s servers, and logging background audio captured when using the TV’s mic for voice search and voice control. Gamers Nexus and Level1Techs were even able to exploit security vulnerabilities to take control of the TV, which is how they discovered the above.

None of that is good, obviously. But it is worth noting that the scariest part — recording video (from a webcam they attached) and audio when the TV appeared off — seems to have been possible only because Level1Techs rooted the TV using an exploit that they said requires network access. If you have access to a computer, which is what a smart TV is, and you can root it, you can make it do pretty much whatever you want. If the TV is indeed rootable with only network access, that is a legitimate security problem; it still requires an attacker to get into your private network, but gives them a vulnerable endpoint if they do.

With that root access, Gamers Nexus also discovered that when an LG TV’s mic was activated for voice search, it kept recording for 10 to 15 seconds after it last detected speech. It could also detect the “hi LG” wake word and other speech from farther away than you would expect — after Gamers Nexus enabled the far-field microphone and cranked up the mic sensitivity. Taken in combination, that means that as long as anyone within the (long) earshot of the microphones kept talking after the mic was activated, the TV would capture their conversation too and treat it as part of the voice search. That’s not ideal, but Gamers Nexus and Level1Techs did go out of their way to increase the mic’s pickup range and used the optional voice search wake word, both of which are easy to avoid doing.

Alongside their pretty damning testing, there’s also a lot of “it might” and “we think” and outright speculation in the video, not to mention long-distance conclusion jumping. For example: Gamers Nexus’ Steve Burke says that unplugging your TV’s ethernet cable might not be enough to stop it transmitting data to LG, because it could auto-connect to open neighborhood Wi-Fi broadcasts from Comcast or AT&T customers in order to upload that data. There’s no evidence in the Gamers Nexus video that LG TVs actually attempt to do this — these hotspots require user accounts, for one thing — and Burke doesn’t say that they do, or even could, but the implication is clear. This type of rampant speculation undermines the legitimate vulnerabilities Gamers Nexus highlights.

There’s really no way to completely protect yourself from your TV, streaming device, or streaming services gathering your data, at least right now. There’s so much money being made at the expense of consumers and the data collection is so integrated into how these companies work that the change and regulation needs to come from government policymakers. “We need a comprehensive federal privacy law that covers this sort of data collection and misuse,” said Thorin Klosowski, senior security and privacy activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). “Specifically one that requires opt-in consent, with no deceptive design tricks to get that consent, and a data minimization requirement, which would limit the companies to only using data for what’s needed to provide the service.”

The fact that we, as users of tech products, need to actively protect ourselves from the companies that sell us things is bad. But it’s the unfortunate current reality of living in a tech-filled world and taking advantage of the benefits current technology affords. Beyond disconnecting completely and living in a cabin in the woods with a dumb TV and a collection of Blu-rays, the best we can do is limit as much shared information as possible. If it’s possible to keep it private, we should.

Paywalled: Potentially geolocation but you could try opening in browser. If viewing through Lemmy app such as Voyager, ⋮ menu >Open in browser then depending on your browser/plugins/location, it's gone

Are you sure it’s paywalled? I was able to read the whole article without issue

We needed AI models before the microphones could be useful. Storing off voice audio and transcribing it was only useful when the State wanted to know what you're up to. Only now that a model can reduce it to text and add it to your dossier, does it truly become useful intel.

Yeah nah mate they worked that one out years ago. Shit scans for adhoc/unsecured, or uses a low level local mesh until they hit one that does have internet

That’s sort of the “I’ve got nothing to hide” argument. They want your data for a reason. It’s valuable to them. It’s like, why have blinds or curtains on your windows if you don’t have something to hide?