A new Gamers Nexus investigation found a retail LG TV actively scanning the local network for phones, laptops, smartwatches and other connected devices, while also capturing microphone audio when the screen appeared to be in standby. The investigation found voice data being stored locally even after the TV was disconnected from the network, with the queued data uploaded once connectivity returned. Researchers also uncovered webOS vulnerabilities that could potentially turn the television into a remotely controlled surveillance device. The really unsettling part isn’t just the advertising angle. It’s the fact that a consumer television can sit inside your trusted network, enumerate other devices, access a microphone, store collected data locally and communicate with external infrastructure. Put that same device in a corporate office, hospital, hotel or conference room and the security implications become considerably more serious. I went through the investigation in detail, including the network scanning, microphone behavior, ACR, webOS attack surface, offline data collection and practical mitigations
Never connected my TV to the internet, just have a mini pc running instead, so much easier
The scariest part to me is this part:
The investigation found voice data being stored locally even after the TV was disconnected from the network, with the queued data uploaded once connectivity returned.
This is how literally every mainstream OSes work unfortunately. Even Windows does the same with telemetry
From LG’s perspective of course this is what they do - anyone who has ever had to meter something knows offline caching is the only way to go. Networks are flaky, you don’t want data loss every time something minor causes a disconnect.
That said fuck LG with a rusty pole for what data they’re harvesting and how they’re using it
Has interesting implications for the used market…
All smart tvs are spying. Putting pressure on one brand is fine because it might pressure at least one of them to start making dumb TVs again.
The video is supposed to be the first in a series, where they intend to look into other brands as well.
The video yes, every single follow up article only mentions LG
I want my TV to be smart, I just don’t want it to be spying on me.
You no longer have the choice. You get spied on or you cut it off from the internet.
Seems that way, indeed. I’m just saying. 😣
For the past ten years I’ve been routinely telling people not to let their TVs have access to any networks because they can not be trusted. This morning I find myself insufficiently optimistic to believe that any great number of them are going to start taking that advice now just because there’s suddenly a boatload of new evidence backing it up.
You know what’s really fun? All of these “features” affect the Consumer Price Index math so it makes your TV look even more valuable than it actually is, causing the government’s official inflation rate to be a little lower than what we actually feel. This is true of smartphones, computers, cars, etc…
The fact you can’t fix anything? Not included.
Unfortunately these days TVs are stubborn. They refuse to work without an account or so in many cases. Best is to put them on a different VLAN and allowing the bare minimum
Idk both of mine are offline only. Never connected to my internet.
I really wish we could go back to them just being panels, a few hookups and that’s it. No built in Netflix or whatever other garbage
They won’t cuz customers are accustomed these days with all the bells and whistles that are bundled with modern TVs. Also, investors want “innovation”. This is kinda same as AIs getting integrated into toasters, washing machines etc. Mainstrram consumers don’t care about privacy. Heck most consumers use their default shitty ISP provided router and don’t even change the default username and password. This is thr harsh truth. Even now, most consumers choose convenience over privacy
I don’t want a dumb TV, and I don’t want to choose between “convenience and privacy” - I want a TV with a slot for basically a RasPi cartridge I can slot in that runs my own goddamn OS as the smart TV. This isn’t rocket science. This shouldn’t require compromise. Imagine if in 1995 every desktop PC had Windows 95 hardwired into the motherboard as the only OS that could boot; it’s deranged.
The real problem is that there’s no profit in any of the innovation we actually want, and that’s capitalism’s fault for being unable to deliver.
Yeah but even the mainstream experience isn’t that great? They take forever to boot up, are slow, insecure, stop being updated etc.
I’m sure it won’t get better, it never does it seems, still, it would be nice.
I guess we have to use a computer monitor.
They refuse to work without an account or so in many cases.
Then they’re about to get returned to the store as defective, and I’ll go buy a different TV.
they refuse to work without an account
That’s called “a bad purchase” or “a return,” you can’t just bring active spyware into your home
consumer power yey! to bad its easier just to cave in for most especially with how big and bulky modern tvs are. Not that i have one
Yep. If a new TV I buy doesn’t work without an account, I’m returning it to the store because it ‘doesn’t work’. No other possibility.
If there’s a device that has a computer in it that I cannot control the operating system off, it does not get any outside connection. No exceptions. Be it the car, the TV, the e-reader or whatever else.
In the video he talks about how some models will auto connect to open WiFi if there’s one nearby, I also wouldn’t be shocked if it’s a ring camera situation where if there’s another LG device with a connection in range of yours without, it will piggyback off that connection to ensure LG gets the info. They own the glass, they own the living room.
“Welcome to the Machine” —Pink Floyd.
This is obviously the result of razor thin margins from competition on price, so they needed find evil ways to show growth for investors.
Do the two tier pricing model like amazon did with kindle. $50-100 cheaper for the NSA model. More expensive one for people with >2 braincells
Luckily, all of this shit is illegal in the EU.
Yes true. Also, the processor they put inside even on the highest end TVs are a joke. Slow af. This is one of the reasons why many opt for an Apple TV or a Fire TV or any good Android box just because they are so much faster
But at the end of the day, it seems a bit of a stopgap- all you need is a bad fiscal quarter or new ceo. I have seen streaming servers and they all look sketchy as fk. Are there safe generic, external streaming device ones folks could buy or make ?
A laptop running your favorite flavor of Linux is the best streaming device you can have.
Unless you want appletv+, Disney+, Netflix etc at 4k 60
I’ve heard those names in port over the years, matey
I’d rather not pay for any of them.
Me either. But nevertheless Linux needs mainstream support
Unfortunately no generic ones are safe. All run sketchy services under the hood. If you want android then go for google tv streamer. Else fire tv but that has its own fair share of issues. The best is apple tv but that requires you to have an iPhone. Last option is raspberry pi with LibreElec or you can even run android on it with the TV UI and everything
