Link: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cyber-security/hacker-finds-own-samsung-tv-collecting-scary-amounts-of-user-information-and-gets-banned-by-openai-for-cyber-abuse-tv-runs-an-ai-model-that-collects-audio-screenshots-and-plenty-of-other-user-data-for-ad-targeting

A hacker reverse-engineered his own Samsung TV and found alarming spying activity, including code that used connected devices' microphones to listen to users.

Smart TVs were pretty clearly designed for exactly this purpose.

We were considering replacing our old Samsung with a newer one. The "old one" is from the pre-AI era. Now it looks like the old one will stay for a while...

You can get slop-free ones by purchasing "commercial monitors"

Or you keep them offline and use a dedicated “smart” device like an Apple TV or Android TV.

My TV's a little older, but this finally got me off my ass to firewall it. Turns out it's not online.

Too rich for my blood. I use a 40" for my PC monitor and a 55" on the wall for streaming pirated movies and shows.

What's weird is that my second TV works as a second monitor with while showing no internet. It's certainly not a listed DHCP lease. WTH?!

There may also be an overlap with models called "digital signage displays", depending on brand.

They can be great because they're warrantied for 24/7 use, unlike the regular kind. But otherwise are just a display, all TV capability gone, and the smart features are limited to centralised remote control over the network.

The Samsung ones we use at work for the likes of CCTV are so stripped down they don't even have the ability to update their firmware over the network. Gotta load that onto a USB drive.

https://github.com/hkamran80/blocklists/blob/main/smart-tv.txt

Eventually they'll route all traffic through their network.

That just moves the problem to a different company. None of which is any better in the long run.

That's the plan.

For targeted ads. I mean, given that there's a spy device building a detailed profile of your behavior in the "privacy" of your own home, they wouldn't use it for anything more nefarious than targeted ads, right?

Cheaper to replace. And in case of Android TV also more open.

How about a nice RPi500 as a media center?

AI has nothing to do with this and it was happening before AI became a thing. Data is king and companies want to sell it.

Just buy a TV and don't connect it to the internet. And none of this has anything to do with AI. Its data you know how Google makes its money why TVs are still so cheap. LG makes more money selling your dsts then they do selling the TVs I imaging Samsung is the same.

So then don't connect the TV to anything I guess. Except a PC running jellyfin or Kodi.

Easier to not give them network access.

Knew that shit was listening, now we know where one of the points where.

Depends what you are consuming. Your local library? Sure (if you have a nice way for remote control). If you want Netflix, Prime, etc, then missing DRM is an issue (between missing and super hacky).

I recall reading that some SmartTVs will attempt to connect to open wireless networks, fully in the background, to set up a connection for delivering telemetry and downloading ads.

If that's accurate, then any neighbour running a guest network could make you vulnerable.

I would be interested to hear if anyone knows if this is an urban legend or legitimate concern.

I hope they get sued into oblivion for this. Maybe there's something in the terms and conditions but I don't see how this would apply to people who can't give consent like children and guests.

It's almost certainly in the legalese they used in the EULA everyone that uses them agreed to. What it won't be, is clear that this was the intention.

"oops our database leaked again"

You could always just flood your neighbors network, making it unusable.

Or is you have a good relationship with them you could ask them to turn the signal strength down- lots of routers support this. Or openWRT

Some kind of ad-hoc connection? Bluetooth or .. Miracast or .. there's a few others

That's what I do. You can actually get them super cheap is you dig enough. They're essentially just a screen with hdmi- no speakers no other ports etc. great for what I do.

If you don't dig they look expensive.

There are models for cracking and reverse-engineering. Obv the mainline ones are supposed to have guards against that.

Wasn't the LG one that LG could locate a person of interest and then listen in, like what a shady government would do with some Israeli technology

But it also precedes snooping, too. Which shows how old it is. But it has Ethernet, and can access the local mediaservers. It actually only calls home when I use "check for updates". Which I have not done in years, and won't do until it dies, because it works.

Turns out it was plugged directly into my NUC because I'm an idiot. 🤷🏼

Haha, well glad like you got it sorted