Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA

The LG Smart TVs we've tested have first-party ACR (automatic content recognition) functionality that can pry into your personal life with greater precision than you might realize, with LG Ad Solutions' executives and leadership saying, on camera, that LG "owns the glass." Not you -- even though you bought it -- but them. They also talk about knowing everybody in the household, knowing the secondary devices, moving from TVs to smartphones and other screens, and more in their B2B discussions. Beyond just the fact that we think the TV's native behavior parallels malware, the LG Smart TVs we tested also have a number of security vulnerabilities that can be exploited to convert the TVs into covert listening devices. In this investigation, we dive into the mix of LG's first-party functionality that (in our opinions) is tantamount to spying and LG's vulnerabilities and exploits that they have failed to protect against.

I bought an LG TV two months before I heard about any of the fuckery LG pushes through their TVs. Granted I don’t allow any device internet access but I’m still pissed.

The device record audio, even without internet.

Check the video for more info.

Never let it connect to internet.

This is a temporary solution though. One day they'll just include cellular connectivity into their TVs once it gets cheap enough to do so. And this is terrifying because by then there will be no escape from their surveillance short of hacking into it or putting it in a faraday cage.

i literally bought lg tv hours before their first driver fuckery came to light. im learning how to jailbreak my tv i hope its enough

They record audio and convert it to text locally so it has virtually infinite storage of everything it hears and uses almost no bandwidth to transmit everything once Internet is reconnected.

Might be time to take out the wire snips.

Or look for a Mic cutoff switch: https://www.tomsguide.com/tvs/yes-your-tv-probably-has-a-microphone-in-it-heres-how-to-turn-it-off

Yes, my only hope is that it relies on a wlan connection, which I simply won’t grant it.

I am at work now so i haven't seen the video but can anyone recommend a cheap good "scanner" or something like that that could show me which devices are listening to me and my family?

I just bought 3 of these how do I fix it 😭

Gamers Nexus is actively working on fixing this. It's a part of the investigation. Not just exposing the spying, but learning how to actively stop it on the devices. Stay tuned to the Gamers Nexus channels over the next few months as they release the investigation videos.

As someone who works in this space, it's got a way to go as the data costs globally for this kind of plan are still bonkers.

Will do, thanks.

Returning them.

They look for any WiFi device you have, or your neighbours, HDMI connection(Those are 2 way connections BTW that can connect through devices that are plugged into your internet), or any other random laptop, phone, or neighbour's device that it can connect with. Just unplugging them from the internet does nothing. They keep recording and as soon as you have to plug in again or another route is available, Boom goes the dynamite.

Well then you don't have much hope at all.

"scanner" is difficult because every "smart" device phones home and the connection is encrypted.

However you can safely assume that everyone is doing it. Disconnect any smart device from the Internet and only trust the ones you set up yourself....

The only good scanner is your frontal lobe. Most scanners are a scam prying on fear of the uneducated.
Every smart device is a potential attack vector, and there are two class of entities that can use your device maliciously. Black hat hackers that put malware for residential proxy services or manufactures selling data to advertisers. There are ways to mitigate the risk like air-gapping, putting them on separate network, jailbreaking and buying dumb devices.

A new, fully open source firmware is way better than simply not hooking it to Internet, but the only real fix is to disconnect or burn the modem and microphone. Obviously, we all have different a different level of attack surface that makes us feel comfortable. I'm just giving you a heads up. You never know what's in the other chips.

Open it up and disconnect or burn the modem and microphone.