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  • Hacker News
  • LG is on my blacklist. That means I won't buy LG products and in my job actively fight against buying products from them. And they put themselves onto that lost with their behavior.
    by atoav
  • It's a shame because from the experience of people around me their appliances are some of the best, I mean for washing machines, fridges, etc.
    by is_true
  • Apparently all these vendors did nothing to prevent this, a nice article from spur intelligence

    https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/video/how-smart-tvs-may-be-s...

    by ram_rattle
  • My question is how would a user know their TV is being used like this?

    Also this is the reason you down download random crap onto your devices.

    I have an LG that is connected on its own network with bare minimal apps (netflix, prime, etc) because it's too convenient for my family. I actually bought it because it didn't display ads on the home screen like the other smart TVs I'd researched. Thought LG was the lesser evil, turns out they're all a bad as each other.

    by ifh-hn
  • Only reason LG doesn't have adverts is by forcing it to use a pihole, but even that needs updating -- recently they've managed to push things through and I need to do another investigation to see what needs blocking. Trouble is I only see them when I'm not in the mood to be working, and then forget about them
    by iso1631
  • is this some kind of tactical distraction from the other LG headlines this week?

    I thought residential proxies are already banned from SmartTV apps by virtue of practically every APK under the sun being subject to the Google Play terms of service.

    by akersten
  • That only applies to the subset of TVs that use Google TV/Android TV.

    Not so much for the rest of them that have operating systems with names like Roku TV OS, Tizen, WebOS, and Fire TV OS. They do their own things.

    by ssl-3
  • LG webOS is not Android though, it's from the old Palm/HP devices of the early 2010s. And I'm pretty sure there are still tons of play store apps with these proxy SDKs in them, advertised/consented or not.
    by ranger_danger
  • > I thought residential proxies are already banned from SmartTV apps by virtue of practically every APK under the sun being subject to the Google Play terms of service.

    The platforms in question here are webOS and Tizen, neither of which are Android or use the Google Play Store.

    by Marsymars
  • My TV doesn't know my router's wi-fi password.
    by glimshe
  • Pretty sure they can get internet through the HDMI cord from Roku or similar device
    by gboss
  • This is the best approach
    by aussieguy1234
  • Hope you don't have any open WiFi networks nearby. IMO it's better to put it on one of your networks and isolate it from the internet and other devices.
    by amazingman
  • I've said it before on HN a long time ago but I'll repeat myself, I have about a thousand times more confidence that Sony and/or Microsoft will keep their PS5 and Xbox operating systems secure and not crapped up with stuff like this, than I do that random TV manufacturers will not result in a cybersecurity or privacy disaster.

    Yeah, the PS and Xbox OSes show you ads, and they have telemetry. But both companies also have an extremely important core functional need of keeping them secure, because possible fuckery with the OS could result in game piracy/DRM bypasses and a direct threat to their revenue models.

    by walrus01
  • My TV thinks it's January 1st 1970.
    by declan_roberts
  • If other non-Android-based TV manufacturers follow, this will have a much bigger impact on the spread (and cost) of scraping than either Anubis or Cloudflare.
    by yodon
  • I am afraid that my dumb TV, which I've been holding onto for many years, might be on its last leg.

    I remember seeing privacy guides for smart TVs over the years, does anyone know a place with up to date info?

    Most 55inch monitors are now "smart" sadly, so are most "digital signage" products. So there is no longer a way to get a true dumb panel at least over 50 inch

    EDIT I am in Australia, there might be products that are available elsewhere but cannot be bought/shipped here

    by mastazi
  • I share your disappointment. I just want a screen with a tuner. If I want any “apps”, I’ll pair it with another device which will probably be an Apple TV.

    I’m starting to wonder if a monitor and a soundbar with an external tuner is possible.

    by tikkabhuna
  • You can easily turn dumb mode on any smart TV.
    by cynicalsecurity
  • Don't connect your TV to the network. Use an external device for smart features like firestick, Apple tv, Google streamer etc (there are open source options too if you look around and don't mind missing some polish).

    I have yet to receive a software update on any of my smart TVs that brought in any positive feature.

    by kyriakos
  • If you don't ever give your network credentials to the Smart TV you've closed off 99% of the attack surface.
    by qq66
  • What happens to the copies already installed?

    Spur says these SDKs can keep running after the app is closed and only stop when the user deletes the app or opts out. LG says developers must remove them or have their apps suspended, but the article doesn’t say whether that disables existing installs. If it doesn’t, LG needs to tell affected users which apps to remove.

    Does webOS have any way to kill an installed app remotely?

    by awllau
  • Stop hooking up your LG tv to any network
    by s1ncere
  • The problem I have is....it just works. I'm tired of having to manage 50 different devices to let my son watch some Gabbys Dollhouse on the TV. Our LG CX is now 6 years old and it just works. I only need one remote for all the apps and sound, and I don't need to worry about another device. I've tried both Apple TV and Amazon Fire Stick, and both were (subjectively) worse experiences than just using the apps built into the TV. So.....in the interest of making my life feel less like an IT admin of my own house....I think I'll just use the built in apps and keep my TV connected to the internet.
    by gambiting
  • Stop buying LG TVs.
    by CivBase
  • Press the button to turn off the power strip when you're not watching it.

    The other solution for those who have a flat white wall (or are willing to install a projection screen) and which I used for years and years: use a dumb projector. There are plenty of perfectly fine dumb projectors and they're very cheap too (compared to the equivalent TV). This also made for the largest diagonal I ever had, in a huge living room, which was really great: basically turning the living room into a mini home theater. I painted the walls etc. accordingly, including a special paint for the white projection wall and black for the side and back walls. This was a better experience than any $$$ TV.

    Sadly atm I can't use my projector for my wall ain't flat and I can't install a projection screen and I've got nowhere to put my projector: I could use a short-throw one but the place ain't mine and I'm not allowed to drill holes etc.

    So atm it's... Pressing the button on the power strip that powers the LG TV. I know, I know: doesn't help much when the TV is on.

    Next thing to do is separate all the junk devices (TV, smartphones [the ultimate spying device btw, much more than your TV], smartwatches, tables, etc.) from your proper stuff (e.g. your important PC running Linux/FreeBSD/etc.). I use different physical LANs (and a bridge/router) but VLANs would do too.

    Many cheap home routers also by default offer at least a "guest" network: a perfect place the TV and your relatives' devices when they visit and want access. Set usage quota on the guest network too.

    At some point all these devices shall use other networks than yours, so you'll be sorry out of luck anyway. But as long as they don't come with their own battery, pressing the button on the power-strip is some kind of giant low-cost "hack this" middle finger.

    by TacticalCoder
  • Want to stream Netflix? Disney+? Hulu?

    You need to hook something up to a network, and another device would have similar risks.

    Setting up a sandboxed VPC or auditing traffic is beyond the means of the average TV owner.

    by manarth
  • Never once had a problem with an LG because I've never given it internet access. A trustworthy set top box handles everything instead. Concerned that might not be an option in the future.
    by michaelchisari
  • 13 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6759426
    by userbinator
  • I'm mostly very happy with my LG C4 as a home theatre centerpiece, and I did have it online so that I could use the apps for YouTube and Jellyfin. However, the lack of support for modern 4k rips (HEVC+DTS) ended up being a dealbreaker and I finally ditched the built in software for a fire stick instead.

    No transcoding, no weird codec issues, just the raw files direct streamed from the underpowered Unraid box, into the back of the AVR where the audio is handled correctly and the video is sent to the screen.

    by mikepurvis