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LG smart TVs caught logging audio with screen off and snooping on local devices (www.notebookcheck.net)
submitted 3 weeks ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ca
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[–] 13 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

Yeah even 10 years ago a researcher found if you plug in a USB drive with movies it was sending the file list to some lg IP address. And collecting all device names/MAC via Samba protocol.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

    And this will have exactly the same effect where almost nobody changes their purchassing habits with regards to LG products. When the 6G cell tower network is rolled out^1^ the chances of detecting bullshit like this will drop to zero.

    [1] The 6G network will use very, very high frequencies for communication. This means the range will be greatly reduced and more towers will be needed, but the bandwidth will be much larger. There has already been discussion about there being no need for in-home wifi since the coverage will be good enough with 6G that a personal wifi router wouldn't be needed, and equipment for sweeping for 6G devices will not be cheap.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    Cell providers are not going to provide 6G service for free, though. Will LG (and other spying corps) be willing to pay a carrier subscription in order to be able to connect to their TV without your wifi and spy on you?

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  • [–] 1 point 3 weeks ago

    That's my guess. If the telemetry they're getting never gets any bigger then the actual bandwidth it uses and the revenue from selling advertising packages, etc, would likely make up for it.

    Any time I've guessed something along the lines of "there's no way a company would do that" or "people wouldn't let a wiretap inside their home" I've been wrong. The pure TV market is essentially tapped out so the companies in that space are expanding by gathering more and more data so they can grow to make shareholders happy. Eventually there's no more data to gather with current hardware limitations, so they have to get more creative in how they package the same old data into a new product.

    I don't doubt for a second that the hardware won't be built into new smart devices after a certain point. Maybe as part of a TV branded "cable service" over 6G, maybe as a requirement for warranty past whatever the minimum is. Who knows how the companies will pay for the NRE because they'll make it back on selling the telemetry to advertisers and marketing companies with subscription services for gravy. Maybe they do point to point connections so that if your neighbor has the service then your TV can talk through theirs. The point is there's a business case to be made for investigating whether it's profitable or not, and the testing like the guys in the video are doing will now require specialized RF equipment that'll be easily out of reach from a cost perspective for a while.

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