anybody know when this started? i don't have my tv connected to the network, and have not updated the firmware in 2 r 3 years.
Don't connect TVs to your network.
And according to the article the data collection runs even if it's disconnected. So, don't ever connect it to the network. As soon as you do everything gets uploaded.
Could I burn a hole through a WiFi chip with a soldering iron?
Only one way to find out.
This would've worked just a few years back but due to shitty "age verification" laws, even TV manufacturers willl force users to create an account the very least for the TV to even start up. They may also implement an always-online model and they'll justify that it's necessary to monitor users for "age verification purposes". ATP better to get a good monitor and use it as TV cuz cable or satellite boxes are either way gonna be provided by the network companies so that's there
This would’ve worked just a few years back but due to shitty “age verification” laws, even TV manufacturers willl force users to create an account the very least for the TV to even start up.
Surely only for "smart" features but without enabling any of that shit, you shouldn't get any age verification prompt.
"We own the glass, we own the TV, we own the living room. We know who is in an LG home." --LG President of Ads
These are the Gamers Nexus videos these articles are referencing btw. Support them and their work. Get some cool shirts and physical media while you're at it.
Really makes one wonder...How many fucking data points do these assholes need telling them we're too fucking broke for their game and want their heads on pikes?
It's hard to find a dumb TV.
Monitors and projectors are going the same way.
Not connecting them might not be enough.
Time to learn how to use a soldering iron.
modern ones are soldered directly to the board and integrate bluetooth into the same chip and removing that chip form the board could remove the ability to use bluetooth functions and the remote, however!!!!!!! most have usb ports!!!!!! lets make new operating systems and fucking delete their file system, load a new os that lacks the abilities these manufactures have.
The hardware is whatever but if we remove the file systems that its preloaded with it won't be able to load any of its preinstalled shit. If we mod the operating system we can mod some of the shit the hardware is capable of doing through the software and coding. Kinda like how windows 11 is known for lowering ram speed.
Fuck LG, this is creepy AF
It’s not just LG. It’s all of them.
And, the cheaper the TV, the more often and intrusive these settings are.
It’s honestly better to just have a bare wall and a projector.
It’s honestly better to just have a bare wall and a projector.
Consumer projectors come with the same "smart" shit as TVs these days. Just don't connect either to WiFi. Problem solved.
Apparently not solved. They can connect to open (and hidden) networks without your consent.
Per the marketing chief at LG; (paraphrased, from memory) "we own the glass, and we know everything beyond the glass."
... Well great, now I have to check whether my television has a goddamn microphone for some reason. I didn't think to check because it's a television.
Never connected it to the Wifi though.
Doesn't anything with a speaker have an inherent shitty microphone?
I was at my parent’s house, trying to add some items to the smart TV. They started listening to these awful AI interpersonal dramas read by AI, on YouTube.
My thought was to add some podcasts and their Audible account, for more selections. Maybe they’ll still only listen to that, even so. You can’t add much to a smart tv. No podcasts. No podcast app. A pretty spartan selection of apps. Even something as large and mainstream as Audible. No go. Libby? Yeah, right.
I don’t get it. What’s the point? Just buy a monitor, jack it into a PC for media, and have everything you want minus this telemetry.
Just buy a monitor, jack it into a PC for media, and have everything you want minus this telemetry.
I have some bad news for you:
My TV has no Internet connection, but does connect to my gaming desktop. I agree with you. There’s no reason TVs should not just be dumb displays. I do also have the Apple TV, but it never ever shows ads and is a one-time purchase. The day it starts showing me ads is the day it meets the bin.
There’s no reason TVs should not just be dumb displays.
At least, no reason that benefits the consumer. There are strong monetary incentives to spy on customers and sell the data that's collected.
I don’t care that companies thought they’d get away with this, the problem is have are the people buying this shit! This should’ve been enough to get people to just refuse to buy it but no.
And the bigger problem isn’t what we know they can do, you have to think about what it ‘could’ do.
Even if you never connect this stuff to the internet, they could still track all this stuff locally. Once that happens, which no doubt it will if not already, what happens if suddenly you get arrested for something, they confiscate the TV, download all the stuff tracked, and oops, something even more incriminating… maybe you watched an illiegal movie on jellyfin! 😲
Look at all the “People will never let it happen” that has happened pretty much unchallenged… you’ll have no privacy, and you’ll all be paying for it!
The problem is not that people are buying this willingly, it's because they don't know. If you present them two rougly similar options, but one of them is a spying machine, people will choose the other one. This stuff should not be legal in the first place.
The majority of people do not realize how much information is being recorded and what it’s used for. If there was an easy way to track down how a telemarketer got your information, a lot more people would freak out and demand change.
What exactly is the alternative? Every tv manufacturer is doing this. Buying a commercial display isn’t the answer.
Scepter.
(I dunno if they're doing it yet or not but I bought a dumb TV and a dumb monitor from them and I really hope they stay dumb)
Remember: all that is done simply to give LG executives, like, a few dozen bucks over the device's lifetime.
Customer privacy means nothing at all to them. They sell it for pocket change.
There's no "might" here. It's why high-end TVs are cheap.
Bosch fucking dishwashers do this, once connected there is no way to disconnect them so I sink all its outgoing traffick at the router level
Complete garbage
Yeah, what kind of idiot wants an internet-connected dishwasher?
How about an AI-powered pair of chopsticks?
In a perfect world?
I'd love access to diagnostic data. Is the filter starting to clog? Is any part not working as intended? I'm a big fan of preventative maintenance, but also really bad at sticking to an arbitrary recurring schedule (e.g., clean the filter every 6 months). This could also be accomplished with Bluetooth and an offline-only app on the phone.
In the real world? Nobody provides this, and the privacy risks aren't worth it.
I do have my dishwasher on a ZigBee power meter to 1) track energy use and 2) give me a good-enough estimate of time remaining by starting a 2h timer after it starts.
Probably safe to assume every other smart TV brand is doing the same, but just no one has gone to the effort to check...
Others do too
I was radicalized when a Roku TV told me I needed to be online to change an input name from HDMI1 to Xbox. Motherfucker WHAT.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
