The researchers have discovered that automatic content recognition (ACR) tracking is active most of the time, even when TVs are used as “dumb” HDMI devices. In other words, the TV manufacturers are monitoring your private moments as well. There’s apparently no monitoring of streaming content in the UK, but there is in the US.
The only good news is that these TVs can seemingly be configured to disable ACR, provided the owners know this activity is taking place and are able to find the right settings. (I recently looked at the configuration of our TVs again, and understanding the various settings was far from easy.)
Another thing, just like the LG TV screensaver ads from the other thread, that would be a felony if a natural person did it.
Why are we tolerating this criminal behavior by corporations?
Why are we tolerating this criminal behavior by corporations?
Because it’s done in the open and it’s accepted as part of the cost of the device. This is an expected consequence of our adtech surveillance economy where devices are now subsidized because they can harvest data about you, your usage and your behavior to sell on an ongoing basis. We’ve been screaming about these sorts of practices since the late 90s and consumers have just blithered right along with every new and creepy intrusion because they get cheap things and don’t think about the real costs or consequences. And so … Here we are.
Do not connect this device to the internet, no matter how much it begs.
Unfortunately, that’s no guarantee. I believe some devices have been found to scan for any open WiFi and join silently so they can phone home.
Yep. In fact, Amazon devices can connect to other Amazon devices over their Sidewalk meshnet and get the wifi password that way. I’m never getting anything from Amazon more complicated than a screwdriver.
If you’re concerned about this, you may want to consider buying a commercial display, which is basically just a giant monitor. They’re meant for businesses and hospitals, so they’re going to be expensive. Many brands such as LG and Samsung sell commercial displays.
Anothet alternative is to buy a projector. Projectors offer a much more “cinematic” experience, and they can be cheaper in comparison to commercial displays. Although there are a few projectors that have smart (anti-)features, most of them lack these. For a projector, I recommend the BenQ HT2060. It’s confirmed to have no smart features, and supports HDR.
Another alternative is don’t connect your TV to the internet.
I’ve always wondered if smart TVs have some other way to phone home with your info in lieu of a WiFi connection like SIM cards or LoRa solutions.
https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV-category1category73.html
This brand sells all non-smart TVs at non-commecial prices.
Thank you!
What if I just never connected it to the internet?
If it is a Samsung tv, they have been automatically connecting to any open wifi, maybe your neighbor has one. And there goes the data.
Avoid Samsung.
Ha, the nearest house to mine is a quarter mile away, good luck Samsung.
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Where is the info about this?
A random hacker news comment. I’m in EU, where this kind of tracking is not legal, so I cannot validate…
I can’t find anything about it. Claim seems sus tbh
Does it apply to Samsung PC monitors as well? Any way to check?
You have wifi / ethernet in your PC monitor?
Samsung in particular has “smart” monitors, so for some of them the answer is unironically yes
Dear god, I do vaguely remember their launch (not my portfolio while working in PC component procurement) but had completely pushed that from my head.
Looks like LG have the same thing going on too, what a waste of silicon.
After investigation, it turned out that it only has ethernet adapter (that’s not in use), but no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Also, as a sidenote, if Max Power Saving is on, ethernet adapter is disabled.
We’re talking about this monitor, bought 2 years ago: Samsung S34A650UXU - S65UA Series - LED monitor - curved - 34", LS34A650UXUXEN
Source?
Sort of alarming how many upvotes this has without anybody providing any reference at all. We have enough privacy problems to worry about without people posting unsubstantiated claims :/
You’ll have to desolder the WiFi card inside. Check teardowns of TVs from now when deciding to buy a new one
I seem to remember a book where TVs watching people was a core element of the setting. Ah well
A doubleplusgood book.
Ah (Or)well
Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) [42] is widely used for second-party tracking in smart TVs. As shown in Figure 1, ACR periodically captures frames (and/or audio), builds a fingerprint of the content, and then shares it with an ACR server for matching it against a database of known content (e.g., movies, ads, live feed). When the fingerprint matches, ACR server can determine exactly what piece of content is being watched on the smart TV.
My TV is connected to my WiFi but I blocked its internet access via router and it only has the jellyfin app which of course runs through a local server on the same network☺
In capitalist America, TV watches you!
Is it possible to open the TV up and just break the wifi module?
I’m just waiting for them to add a sideband channel to some LoRa network so they can exfiltrate data even when their devices are “offline”
Amazon Sidewalk?
It’s a bit difficult, you’ll need be good with your solder.
I dunno. I was able to open my wife’s Sony Xperia to DIY battery swap, and then break (and fail to resolder) the antenna in the process. Can’t be that hard on a smart TV.
Just give it the wrong wifi password.
I have been thinking more on this. Seems like a spare router with no Internet should suffice. Gives it a connection with no Internet so it can’t go anywhere and since it has a connection it shouldn’t be hunting for open networks
Thanks for sharing, turned it off on my tv and shared it
Disgusting
Would it work to block outgoing traffic at the router?
No. You need to request your Netflix video, you need to ACK the segments of it you receive and a lot more.
At the very least you’ll need to maintain a detailed whitelist of allowed domains and especially for the manufacturer some packets might he OK, like checking for updates, while others you’ll wanna block.It’s likely a lot easier to just get a dumb screen and have the smart in a device you control.
If you block ALL traffic from it? Sure. It’s possible but more involved and requires the right hardware to block their tracking domains while leaving streaming apps working.
It’s best not to use smart TVs as well smart TVs. The apps they have are almost always slower or inferior in some way to the versions you get on streaming devices, updated less often, etc. I recommend pairing a TV with a quality streaming device like an Nvidia shield (or shield pro) or an AppleTV*. Alternatively if you want something a little cheaper in Androidtv space there is the Walmart brand Onn 4k pro.
*warning with Apple is while they’re pretty good on privacy (meh, there are no excellent choices that support streaming apps in 1080p quality) and don’t have ads their app-store is a bit more locked down. They have all the major streaming services but if you do high seas type stuff it will be more involved and difficult. Though if you have a local media collection (source your own discs or high seas) and run Plex or Jellyfin they have apps for both of those that work great as well as Infuse which usually requires a subscription unless you don’t need 4k or any proprietary audio codecs like dolby for any of your media. I personally can say I enjoy my AppleTV 4K and I think it’s a great device but I run my own media-server and have some common streaming services I pay for.
