An investigation by Gamers Nexus found LG smart TVs sweep local networks to map phones and nearby devices. Tests also showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet.
This is a felony in most 2 party consent states.
Every day I’m grateful I bought a screen and not a “smart” TV
Life’s gulag.
In most cases, its in a small enclosure or just screwed in. Its exactly like a NVME SSD, if youve built a computer before
accountablity? none. consequences? none (maybe a slap on the wrist at most)
Bring on the TV firmware. Jailbreak your consoles. Use Linux or steal windows and use tools to completely rip its spyware out of it (e.g. https://revi.cc/).
Custom firmware anywhere and everywhere a device that someone supports with custom firmware is a feature worth researching.
The fucks are only going to jeep doing it. Protect yourself. Push for GDPR like laws in the US. California’s privacy laws are headed in the right direction.
https://ca.pcmag.com/tvs/17188/yes-your-tv-is-spying-on-you-heres-how-to-stop-it
for anyone wanting to see where to shut down some features
I think the original coverage from Gamers Nexus should also be linked here:
This is a good time to remind everyone to:
- Install Pi Hole, get LG rules to nerf all the telemetric data going out
- Jailbreak the TV, install SmartTube for your YouTube account without ads and live your best life
Even better. Put the LG on a untrusted vlan that only whitelists public IP access.
this is precisely why i never “pair” the voice remote that came with my vizio. just keep using the dumb one from a previous model
heres a youtube video of a guy converting his speaker into a microphone if you’re interested.
How to Convert a Speaker into a Dynamic Microphone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LroLf0c2fKM&t=5s
I’m not surprised. Almost everything that you would assume does something in only one direction also does it in the other direction. LEDs generate a small amount of current when you shine a light on them, solar panels emit a small amount of infrared when you apply power to them, etc.
To be fair to solar panels, isn’t about everything emitting infrared if you apply power to it? :x
Is it related to the LG system (lower level like bios, drivers) or with Android TV OS?
I mean I know it’s about LG but they are all doing this.
what’s that meme? a schizophrenic is talking, listen and learn
like for real the last 28 years have been extremely good for your credibility as truth seekers
yeah now all the schizos of old are just genuinely 100% right. tuns out we’re being followed the toaster is a spy
The logging was shown using shell commands running on a rooted OS. I don’t doubt the companies can or are doing this, but it’s akin to showing that installing malware exfiltrates your crypto wallet info.
Anything with a CPU, WiFi module, and microphones is capable of this.
But the video showed him connecting a pc to the TV to do the hacking. So it means a physical connection is required to run the shell command. Soo It means I can’t get hacked right ?
According to the video they just needed to be on the same network not physically connected to the TV. If that was accurate…
Which is why we need to be wary of products that have those things in them. Which this article highlights.
Instead we’re being asked to just accept that these “features” are going to be hard baked into literally everything we own whether we like it or not.
Right. When the fuck did a TV start needing a microphone?
I’m old enough that I remember our first remote control TV. The remote was on a cable. It’s incredible and wonderful to me how far and how fast tech has come - but some stuff is just going too far. You don’t need to talk to your TV. Same with smart fridges - WTF? I dunno, maybe I’m just showing my age. But this unnecessary complexity adds insecurity and more stuff to go wrong.
smart devices these days are just data-ming gold mines, now with AI, its even more “valuable” to them, and now potential surveillance devices for things like palanitir.
Maybe, because back then, tech was developed to serve the customers, but now serves corps interests and is used to spy and screwup the customers.
“How can I solve this or that problem” to “how can I extract money out of people”.
Money ruins everything.
