Link: https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-smart-TVs-caught-logging-audio-with-screen-off-and-snooping-on-local-devices.1391214.0.html

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/71045682

An investigation by Gamers Nexus found LG smart TVs sweep local networks to map phones and nearby devices. Tests also showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet.

This is scary shite. In an apartment, your neighbor's tv could be recording your conversations through the wall.

They said these devices were the future but omitted they meant a dystopian one.

I keep my LG TV permanently disconnected from the internet, but there's no good option for a smart TV interface. I use a Fire TV stick and use Pi Hole to sanitise it to some extent. My home server sits behind my TV cabinet and I eagerly watch the progress of Plasma Bigscreen. Kodi interface is ass. We badly need a good option for a privacy friendly Smart TV interface.

It is amazing how almost all modern tech means a shittier experience for the consumer with very few benefits which doesn't outweight the negatives. The only ones benefiting from modern tech are oligarchs and people who want to spy on people. And oh yeah the job of your average scammer has also been made much easier.

Hey, didn't 1984 have those 2 way TV's too?

Can it be trusted to not connect to unsecured nearby WiFi network if such shows up?

Yup, they were called Telescreens

I mean, no shit?

"Oh but there are laws that make it illegal!"

Ok? Did you think they would follow them? Or be punished for not following them?

Corps are allowed to do literally whatever they want to make profit. Nothing is ever enough to disband the corp. No amount of murder or rape or theft is ever enough for a corp to be excised from our society.

Stop. Buying. Bugs.

They're just working as advertized.

It’s not necessary that they’re “allowed” to, it’s that the penalties are laughable. Oh, you’re going to fine our company $100,000 for recording our customers and selling that data to the highest bidder? We literally made $2.4million in that transaction alone, so that 100k is just the cost of doing business.

Penalties need to sting. They need to be personal. The CEO has to suffer when the company does this stuff. Company shares need to lose noticeable value.

Sadly, the government is paid off by these companies…again, the cost of doing business. And business is really, really good.

They are allowed to do it in the same way you are allowed to take food from a restaurant. You just have to pay the right people first.

An NVIDIA shield works great, even though they're old in tech terms, it works great. I installed FLauncher to replace the home screen and SmartTube fornad blocked YT. Runs Jellyfin, Kodi, official apps, or whatever else you want.

Have you looked at an electronics store recently?

It's "oops, all bugs!"

AFAIK you can't even get a dumb Sceptre (which for several years were the last holdout) anymore!

As advertised? I don't think any of these companies are literally bragging about spying on you. They'd rather no one ever know it. I only point this out because you make it sound like no one buying these "TVs" is a victim because they were told they'd be spied on. Which is...not what happened.

No, but you can disable WiFi and use a network scanner to check for devices looking for WiFi. My (not LG) Samsung doesn't, but that I'd not in any way a guarantee other Samsung devices won't, just this particular one.

https://www.samsung.com/us/business/commercial-tvs/all-commercial-tvs/

I bought one recently (a non-smart commercial display) and I've been loving it.

Never connect your tv to the internet

To what goal?

Spoilers!

Also, for anybody who's never read it, here you go: https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021h.html

LG is on my permanent purchase blacklist for years because it's what they do. They are a malware and spyware company pretending to be a hardware vendor.

Yes, if you have been living under the rock the last decade, I guess you should hire a good lawyer. But it is easier through direct wallet action.

I buy nonsmart video projectors. These might be in short supply lately. I don't buy bugs though.

Tech is like bananas. They ripe at home until they get brown and disgusting.

Kinda puzzled by this response. I would never buy LG either... I recently heard more stories about them doing shit like this so I knew also, but I am not seeing the need for the negative implications. I simply said they don't advertise this, and many, many people would never know it.

Let me know when I can get one at a place like Best Buy, Microcenter, or Costco.

Selling the data for advertisers and marketing purposes. Plus who knows what else they won't tell us.

Bought mine off eBay.

GDPR fines are pretty high.

I'm not sure how much of them actually get collected though.

Highly recommend people read it

But also never assume that's a foolproof roadblock to exfiltrating data.

Just a few weeks ago, there was that story of a TV that managed to use an HDMI connection to a Windows PC to trigger automatic download and installation of third-party drivers on the PC, which could then definitely facilitate data exfiltration.

So leave "Ram Ranch" playing next to the TV all day long. Got it.

The link to the Gamers Nexus Video

Outlet switches. Nothing works without power.

I hate when people saw wood in their bedrooms at 11pm.

Gamers nexus showed commercial displays also record audio.

They want data. Data is part of the business plan of making displays.

There are ways for devices to connect to wifi without you knowing.

Data. The data feeds AI. AI has scraped the Internet, now it needs to scrape reality.

And why do they have women's tennis playing on max volume and 2x speed?

and why are they eating Heinz Ketchup Relax in bed?

Good thing my LG C1 OLED has never connected to the internet, then. I made sure that it would never have a connection once I saw that the Facebook app couldn't be removed.

They ALL do this.

This is why I don't own smart TVs.

"No it's not actively listening to you, that's impossible"

Yeah where the fuck y'all at now? Still think your shit isn't actively listening now?

"They'd be caught."

Yeah, like this.

Except batteries

Try thrift stores and goodwills. An older TV from the late-2000s still does the same job at a fraction of the price. And more often than not, they have MORE options and features built in than a new TV does.

The odds of finding a 4K 50"+ dumb TV (which is what it would take to be better than the 15-year-old but pretty high-end at the time 1080P 47" dumb TV I already have) at a thrift store seems... unlikely.

More to the point, it does absolutely nothing to refute my point that dumb TVs are entirely unavailable new at retail.