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It’s not just LG. Every TV company is spying on you (www.theverge.com)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.world
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Crossposted from https://infosec.pub/post/52518361

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 […]

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[+] -8 points 1 week ago (21 children)

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

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  • [–] 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Can you guarantee that a tv isnt constantly, without consent, searching for an unsecured wireless network to connect to? Or has a secret cellular chip? Or, even if it doesnt right now, that it wont in the future?

    This is why we need laws, to protect people who shrug

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  • [–] 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (15 children)

    This "monitor" reports home on what you watch, how long you watch, what other devices are in your home, and integrates an ad service called "Alphonso" (a 100% daugter of LG), using this information to bombard you with ads on your mobile devices and selling this info to data brokers, which in the US also means that it lands in the hands of the government. I don't know much about your standards regarding privacy, but i'd say what i watch on my tv in my living room is nobody's fucking business.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (13 children)

    No, it doesn't. But I guess it does for others. I don't have it connected to any network.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (12 children)

    That doesn't impede these devices as mich as you think. Technologies like LoRa are a thing (although i wasn't able to find any tv vendor publicly confirming the usage. Funnily enough, i even stumbled upon a project which uses chip harmonics in Esp32 platforms to transmit LoRa Frames without any antenna with varying results), and many just keep saving stuff (text doesn't need much space) until they are able to connect somewhere. An open WiFi popping up for a few minutes isn't unreasonable to expect and pretty much unpreventable.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (11 children)

    I opened the TV and removed the wifi. Systems guy.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago* (10 children)

    Ok, so you are the one in a 100k people who can confidently "repair" (i count this as a repair) their TV. This doesn't help anyone else at all and does not eliminate any issues with these devices, unless you published how to do it somewhere in a way a novice can replicate your work, which, if you had to fiddle with the software (some of these things don't even POST without their WiFi module, which requires software patches, and therefor rooting your TV), is a felony in the US thanks to the DMCA.

    Kudos to you if you actually published the way to achieve it, in that case you took a personal risk to right a wrong - this is the stuff that Louis Rossman is looking for btw. Might be a great entry for the consumerrights wiki.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (9 children)

    The computer isn't that complex. You are just destroying the wifi NIC. The hardest part is opening the chassis.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago* (8 children)

    Which is far more than you can expect from a common user. You make the same mistake as everyone working in tech - you vastly overestimate the capability of Joe Shmoe to do such things.

    We are talking about people who are overwhelmed by configuring their email-account on Thunderbird or Outlook, who, when they are on a support call and are asked to "close all windows" stand up and shut the windows in their apartment. With the older generation you might even have to define left and right click with them. These people do not open up their TVs, either because they fear losing their warranty or know how deep their technical knowledge goes (as in "not enough to do such things without breaking stuff").

    Also, like i said, be happy that it worked. Many Smart TVs simply refuse to work if a component fails, regardless of reason.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (7 children)

    Dude, I am not justifying the corporations actions. I am saying you could fix it.

    I am not going against a lawsuit or a boycott. I am saying: it can be fixed.

    I don't see how we are at odds, as I was only bringing up a solution to your concern.

    Why must text conversation be so damned tedious? I am a person, just like you.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (6 children)

    I am continuing because you don't seem to realize that the vast majority of the population has neither the knowledge nor the technical expertise to prevent being the target of a surveillance campaign inside their own 4 walls - or the conference room at work, or their doctors practice.

    You shouldn't have to be technically inclined to make sure that the devices that you spent a lot of money for don't spy on you

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago (5 children)

    Damn man, how many times do I have to repeat myself? I am not apologizing for the actions of the corporations, not saying this shouldn't go to court.

    I am saying that those with the technical ability can stop it. That's it.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago (4 children)

    I am saying that those with the technical ability can stop it. That’s it.

    But that fucking doesn't help or change anything, and you don't seem to understand that your personal aptitude does not scale well on a societal level.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 days ago (1 child)

    It would if people asked me how to do it for the model.

    You can go before the court and leave me alone. I am willing to help people for free. You are simply harrassing me, who is not responsible for the damn product, that wants to educate the public how to take matters into their own hands.

    But stfu, I am not your enemy. This is just absurd.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago* (1 child)

    It's not just a monitor that's the point. They just stopped making "just monitors" bigger than like 40". All TVs now available to consumers are spy devices with a big screen.

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  • [–] -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

    That you don't connect to the internet. You can remove this ability. I have, iirc, like a 70". It has no network capability.

    So you know, I am a systems and network engineer. Not trying to sound pretentious and in no way am I arguing with you about how most people use their devices, I am just saying my TV isn't spying on me.

    It is just a damn monitor that nags me to connect to the internet.

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