216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

oceansky•about 2 hours ago

The title undersells it.

The TV has multiple mics that can't be disabled, they constantly record everything and upload transcripts in plain text.

It gathers data and metadata of all devices on the network, including IP addresses. And even analyzes network data to understand which applications are being run.

mitxela•about 1 hour ago

It's good that at least one tech company still listens to its customers! Ba-dum-tss.

klipklop•35 minutes ago

Only a matter of time before they ship with cell modems so you can’t disconnect them from the internet.

My LG tv post-update is never allowed on a network and it will never be updated again. Hopefully it never breaks…

satvikpendem•4 minutes ago

Other TVs like Samsung are using a peer to peer mesh network with nearby devices instead. LG might do the same.

Quibblingeek•23 minutes ago

I do the same thing. My concern is that if somebody makes the decision to spin up an open wireless network it’ll just try to connect to that and upload all of the telemetry it’s been holding onto.

I’m considering opening mine and taking a desoldering braid to both the RJ45 and wireless antenna solder joints. This might break the TV, but at this point if it does I’m ready to just throw it in the trash and find a commercial display.

I bought a television. I didn’t buy an invitation to be watched in the name of surveillance capitalism and until America gets its shit together with data privacy and consumer protection laws this is just going to continue happening.

I haven’t had a chance to watch this yet, but I did watch the preview and all of Steve’s latest work has been great so I’m sure it’ll be great.

bspammer•about 2 hours ago

Obviously they'll get away with this in the US, but doesn't this break a LOT of EU privacy laws?

hi_hi•31 minutes ago

“We’re listening?…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8duCxY-gnZ0&t=5s

BLKNSLVR•about 2 hours ago

This seems to be the worst case scenario, put into practice by a highly popular device manufacturer. Are they doing this with all of their other devices as well? Monitors, washing machines, fridges? If they can fit this into a TV, they can fit it into everything else.

There's also a fair bit of arrogance from LG: "We own the glass..." leading to this great piece of marketing:

"within an LG TV household we can help extend the ad campaign footprint to the other devices in the household" (at ~14:11)

Advertising is a mind virus. These people are fucking gross. And this seems to be what all technology companies are turning into. Advertising is the Paperclip Maximiser of the real world.

I recently divided much of my home network into VLANs (with "Entertainment" devices separated for this very reason), and this makes me happy to have done so, but now makes me want to do the same to my in-laws network, since they have an LG TV and I regularly connect various of my devices through their network...

Tangential point: I recall on a previous article someone commenting on their surprise at how good Gamers Nexus investigative reporting was. This seems to be another example. You go Gamers Nexus. Might have to buy a supporter pack.

jw_cook•about 1 hour ago

> There's also a fair bit of arrogance from LG: "We own the glass..."

The execs shown in those clips used some pretty revealing language. I also had to do a double-take when they described a customer's (compromised) house as an "LG household," where they "know who's in [it], we know which devices are there... we know how to extend that reach into mobile" and tell advertisers they can "own the living room."

The sense of entitlement is so over-the-top that it's difficult to distinguish from satire.

BLKNSLVR•about 1 hour ago

I shared this thought with a friend of mine recently, primarily in regards to the use of residential proxies:

They don't care about any effect on the individual people.

They view their thing in a vacuum with some kind of religious fervor. It's a form of psychosis, and it seems increasingly prevalent in tech company leadership and so spreads into those who aspire to be tech company leadership types.

mitxela•about 1 hour ago

also, residential proxies don't really affect anyone except Cloudflare, who we should rightfully hate anyway. Spying does.

mitxela•about 1 hour ago

It's like AI model collapse, where they're surrounded by feedback they're doing everything right, no matter what, for a long time, the feedback loop just drifts away from baseline reality.

avodonosov•34 minutes ago

Telescreens.

Can anyone recommend a non-spying TV brand or a model? (Modern)

ChrisArchitect•about 1 hour ago

LG TVs aren't the only ones spying on you [video]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49575176

mitxela•about 2 hours ago

Extremely concerning!

216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]

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