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  • My TVs are on the IoT network so that I can control them from Home Assistant, but they're blocked from accessing the internet.

    DNS lookups are redirected or blocked (53 redirected to my local DNS resolver, 853 blocked), and DoH is blocked as best effort though it's hard to block HTTP DNS traffic, which again is why the devices are blocked in the firewall.

    All streaming is done via AppleTV, which is a platform I trust infinitely more than LG/Samsung/whatever.

    by 8fingerlouie
  • If you're streaming via AppleTV, why do you need to give the TV itself access to the network?
    by harha
  • Blocking DNS doesn't do much if the device isn't resolving hostnames and just pushes data to a bunch of preconfigured IPs tho...
    by vman81
  • Congratulations but I also dislike this type of comment because that is not a solution, a workaround that doesn't happen for 99% of the population.

    Soon you won't be able to IoT network or block these devices as they begin to partner with Amazon and the likes that sell Internet for near-by IoT devices. Then your only option then is physically removing / de soldering radios from the board.

    Laws needed, like yesterday.

    by CommanderData

  •    > My TVs are on the IoT network so that I can control them from Home Assistant, but they're blocked from accessing the internet. NS lookups are redirected or blocked (53 redirected to my local DNS resolver, 853 blocked),[...]
    That's great, good for you that you can do that.

    Unfortunately, from LG's surveillance capitalism point of view, the 0.001% of LG owners that can even think about doing that isn't even a drop in the bucket. They don't care about any one individual, and the vast majority of individuals don't care or understand what LG is doing as long as they can watch TV.

    It's only a matter of time before another Cambridge Analytica situation pops up, except with better tools and vastly more data. Or maybe something we can't even imagine yet enabled by simply re-purposing ad-tech into something political and malevolent? Some people will be wise to it, of course, but if enough are caught up in it, it won't matter, we all lose as a whole.

    by crispyambulance
  • That's great that you know how to do that, but LG and others know that also. They don't care that a miniscule amount of ppl can do it, they care about the 99.9999% that don't. Thid should be dealt with legislation and very high fees, sufficient to discourage anyone to do it.
    by blahblaher
  • And then your neighbor spins up an unprotected network or something like xfinity which they could have a deal with and it connects there and phones home anyways.
    by Eji1700
  • All of your blocking still doesn't change the fact that your LG TV is actively trying to scan your local hardware, gathering IP-addresses of devices, wi-fi names and signal strengths, creating digital finger prints of the audio and video projected on your screen, recording audio through the internal microphone, even when the TV is in standby or without an internet connection, saving the collected data locally and uploading to LG Ad Solutions as soon as the TV is connected to the internet.
    by HelloUsername
  • Modems becoming super cheap is gonna be a big problem for this, because those make it even harder to prevent such snooping.

    Just imagine having to jam the devices in your own home just to stop them from profiling you.

    Better pray to your deer god that modem + data contract is gonna stay more expensive that the expected value from selling more data...

    We really need regulation to stop this.

    by myrmidon
  • My house already jams cell signals at least
    by asdff
  • I see the same thing with advertising. The cost of a banner ad in real life is always decreasing. Now every road intersection, shop aisle, plane seat etc has a huge super bright billboard blasting ads at people who can't realistically avoid it.
    by pampas
  • Disconnect the u.fl to the antenna and it’ll be hard for it to transmit data unless you live next door to a cell tower.
    by 05
  • 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.

    by oceansky
  • This should be grounds for a class-action lawsuit. It’s lying, it’s scummy, it’s an abuse of consumer trust, and it’s written off LG as a company to do business with. I’m surprised we aren’t already seeing DPAs in the EU take on LG.
    by port11
  • Did the video actually say this? I scrubbed through and found it interesting, but from what I gathered, microphones were only activated when AI voice input was used. Granted, there was no investigation on how trigger happy the beginning of recording might actually be. Did I misinterpret?
    by iueotnmuntoeauc
  • Imagine the amount of power they have now with AI, by recording the conversations of half the planet. Imagine the amount of money they would be able to make in the stock market with this data, by following the trends of these conversations. I'm sure the hedge funds have already been doing this for 20 years.

    That's really just the tip of the iceberg though. They'll be able to build very sophisticated models of every person, digitally fingerprinted to their voice and location and devices that follows them forever.

    I want my data deleted from their servers. This is seriously messed up and heads need to roll.

    by nullbio
  • Disconnecting it from the internet isn't enough, because it will store spying data forever until it gets a connection, and it will connect to any open WiFi. You have to disconnect it from the power, and then use a sledgehammer on the remains.
    by mitxela
  • If that happened would any of that data get tied back to you? If you haven't created any accounts or signed into anything.
    by add-sub-mul-div
  • Block it on your router.
    by lokar
  • I'd rather open it up and remove/destroy just the network card.

    (I don't have to do so though because my tv is 20 years old.)

    by nosioptar
  • >and it will connect to any open WiFi

    I've seen this claim made over and over again for various smart TVs, but so far I haven't seen any concrete evidence of this, only random speculation.

    by gruez
  • Funny, published on a site with 1745 'partners' who fully respect our privacy of course
    by touwer
  • As always - https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-should-improve-society-som...

    There is a very I-am-very-smart aspect to these predictable sorts of comments. And weirdly they always seem oddly intended to diminish the core concern being addressed.

    "Oh your TV is listening to you and mapping your network and exfiltrating your data? Yeah, well, look at that website that has some ads on it! Boom!

    Give up. The future is lost. Don't sweat the wiretapping TV."

    by llm_nerd
  • Respect for the consumer has long been gone generally except for a few brands.

    I am still wondering why consumer respecting brands are not emerging more and thriving.

    by Anoian
  • The article is just a summary of the original reporting from Gamers Nexus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA
    by bilalq
  • I believe we should push for legislation that prohibits the sale of customer data to third parties. Websites can use the data on their customers but they cannot share it with anyone else. Because aggregators are selling it cross-border after which you lose track and all control over it.
    by hn_submit
  • I guess this is unavoidable on today’s internet, but…reading a story that decries the (admittedly really bad) data gathering techniques of an advertiser, from a site that itself is plastered with adverts…I don’t know the right word here, but it feels a bit shit.

    Although I’m glad this is getting the visibility it deserves. I hope this hurts LG where it matters and sends a signal to other manufacturers, but I doubt it.

    by hi_hi
  • \#BanAdvertising, my friends. It sounds absurd until you think about it for a minute. If billboards and vice ads and this sort of monitoring should be banned, shouldn't it all?
    by bbor
  • The source video is excellent: https://youtu.be/6IFVTcM28KA

    I have two LG TVs so this freaks me out a lot. I guess I’m fortunate to have kept their network permanently disconnected (we use Apple TV for smart stuff) but who knows if they don’t do things like scan for open hotspots or connect without permission to networks you previously used to update firmware and then deleted from history.

    This company needs to be nuked from orbit. Automatic content recognition is one thing, spying on conversations when switched off is a whole other level of violation.

    by semiquaver
  • Probably best to treat the wifi password as compromised and change it after the TV has had access to it. But I suppose there's nothing you can do to prevent it from accessing open wifi networks that happen to be nearby.
    by ptx