Step 1) don’t connect it to the internet.

Thats all the steps.

^^^^^
This.

I wonder if any have started shipping with prepaid cellular

Or that will automatically connect to insecure WiFi.

Any recommendations to easing the transition to removing the tv from the internet?

My LG is connected to a less trusted vlan and behind a pihole (which matters somewhat, but no clue what goes around it without digging into other logs). I looked at rooting it the other day and I can't with my firmware and honestly not sure what else would need to be done even if I could to avoid things.

I've got a mini pc setup connected to it, but forcing others in the house to use it over baked in apps seems like an uphill battle. Maybe setup some passwordless, generic account that can only open Firefox (somehow limited to just a few sites like YouTube), Plex, and idk what else. Would still lose out on apple tv I think since it's a Linux box.

Curious if there's a simplified, safer route that's easy enough for non tech folk.

PiHole your network and block all their telemetry/spy shit, or never connect it to WiFi to begin with and connect your own stuff to play.

You may only purchase state sponsored routers.

That's all fine and dandy, but some TV makers require Internet for first time setup and won't let it work without Internet now. It's fucking stupid.

That said, you can probably connect it via Ethernet for JUST long enough to get past it and then never connect it again.

On the mini PC set up a homepage in Firefox that has links to all the streaming platforms and stuff. I use Heimdall but there's many others out there and a lot are probably better. You can just use a browser homepage addon, really.

Get a dongled mini keyboard to use as a remote.

Remove password login from the PC, set it up to auto update every now and then at night when it's not in use, and forget about it.

If people in your house can't use that instead of thebaked in apps then they don't deserve the Wi-Fi password.

I need to get into this some day. Get the equipment I need, get it setup, get it done.

In the meantime you can use ad blocking DNS

There's a service that does this? Which one??

There's lots of them but AdGuard, NextDNS, and Mullvad are options. Probably best to research them all and pick the best for you.

Thanks so much for the tips!

I found dnsforge.de which works well enough for now. European, which is a plus for me.

I also recommend using Firefox with uBlock Origin.

Oh yeah, been using that for as long as I can remember. I do work in IT 😊

Thanks, friend!

I wish they would let me make that the standard where I work, it would stop tons of attacks.