Hacker reverse engineers his Samsung TV and finds on-device AI listening for your dog and baby, watching what you watch, and borrowing your soundbar’s mic if the TV doesn’t have one. Then OpenAI banned him for reverse-engineering it.
Source:
Hacker reverse engineers his Samsung TV and finds on-device AI listening for your dog and baby, watching what you watch, and borrowing your soundbar’s mic if the TV doesn’t have one. Then OpenAI banned him for reverse-engineering it.
Source:
These TVs can connect to open networks or other smart devices with Internet so that doesn’t necessarily save you
Everyone keeps saying this, but I’ve yet to see any TV caught doing it. They enumerate the devices and networks around them.
I want to build an esp32 with an open access point that logs mac addresses that connect to it. Maybe have it cycle through SSIDs- FreeWiFi PublicWifi Xfinity etc
Maybe deploy it in an apartment where tv density is high?
You need to give it real internet and watch it connect. Android (and i suspect ios) constantly scan all network ssids to refresh the local nework ssid list.
It doesn’t know my device is a dead end until it connects. By then, i have the MAC
That’s accurate. But you’re going to have the mac address of every laptop, tv, phone, light bulb, toaster, microwave, and corporate access point.
EVERYTHING sweeps the network.
And most of them are going to hit some form of beacon to see if the connection is even online. They’re not just going to blindly call snarfingallyourprivatedataoversomeotherunsecurednetwork.samsung.com
They might even call some base telemetry on samsung.com to identify the network as open to your internet connection wizard, ESPECIALLY if they’re not connect. right?
The best option is what the subject of the post is about and just tear down the firmware and see what it does. This is happening now and is the best answer.
the second best option is to give it real open access and see what it does with it. If you start seeing telemetry that’s a strong indicator. That said, if you leave it over for long periods of time, there’s a chance that someone will eventaully tell their tv to go ahead and use that open access point. at which point your checks of does it do it on it’s own are questionable.
Let the leet crew tear it apart; trust what they find.
I don’t know, I think an open source board replacement would be good too. I’d prefer that, actually.
Hell, if I could make a decent replacement for Roku and plug it into my TV, I’d open the TV up and disable the WiFi altogether.
My mention of the best option was specifically in response to the question "can the disconnected tv’s use open wifi, amazon sidewalk or whatever means to invade your privacy. Since they don’t appear to properly turn off microphones, i wouldn’t be surprised to see them not turning off wifi. TBH, i don’t think they’re trying to use other gateways to get out, but the only sure way would be to romp through the unprotected OS.
What you desire is quite doable, though it has caveats.
If you want to watch Jellyfin and play disks, you can use a slightly beefier SBC and run OpenElec with Kodi. There are some remote projects out there where you don’t need a full keyboard to use it.
If you want Netflix/Hulu/D+ bullshit, you’re better off getting a cheap walmart ONN stick, root it and gut it down to whatever you really need https://xdaforums.com/t/root-guide-walmart-onn-4k-streaming-stick-2026-google-tv-wayne-rtd1325-root-with-magisk.4794208/
The biggest issue in my home is not the mainstream streamers but things like Kanopy and Hoopla(public library offerings). If I can’t get those, then it’s a dead project before it begins.
Thanks for the root guide, I’ll look into it.
Sounds super fun, but probably rumba is right. Get a burner, put an open access point on it (should be a quick app) and log the fuck out of it. Likely get years of content of it if you’re the youtube kind. Look! Corpo X(Y and Z) are evil fucks!
Is it confirmed to be only smart TVs? I have a Sony Bravia from 2014, which I’m very fond of as it has no smart features. I would like to think it isn’t spying on me somehow. If it broke, I’m not sure what I’d do. Maybe buy a CRT or something. All TVs are smart these days.
Figure out how to fix it.
When our Samsung TV “broke” it was just the backlight. New one cost me $10 on AliExpress… and a bit more for fuses because I am a dumb idiot.
Though I must wonder how trustworthy those AliExpress fuses are. Louis Rossmann did review some crappy Amazon car fuses that were as good as nails. I don’t have a PSU to test them.
Oh, and do something better to lift the panel. Even if it’s not too large to crack under its own weight, the LCD panel is still sharp. It WILL cut into your fingers. Again, I am a dumb idiot.
I love my 2010 Samsung tv and I too believe it’s not spying… does anyone know when the TVs went full predator mode?
Around 2018
This got me thinking about how smug I feel to have a clean tv but then I realize that my phone knows all and tells all to almost anyone. Hate it
Pawn Shop
Alright this is the 4th time such a claim was given. Can someone please give us the actual truth or is it just parroting the same “fact” around.
I’m super interested in Fire Sticks. Amazon owns Sidewalk, AFAIK; it’s still active.
Samsung wouldn’t want to pay Amazon for Sidewalk; unidentified data isn’t worth anywhere near as much as you putting it in your Samsung account.
But Amazon doesn’t have to pay for their own shit…
That’s called a factoid :)
Well good thing I don’t have any networks just left open.
Your neighbor might tho.
If you have a neighbor with an open wifi network then use it to torrent all the new movies from the most questionable sources without a VPN. I guarantee they will lock it down after they start getting letters from their ISP.
I’m not saying others aren’t screwed in that sense, but I don’t live within wifi range of anyone else.
Most have a small lte modem now. They WILL watch you
Pop open the back and chizel off the modem then.
Voids warranty.
Solder a resistor across the antenna pins.
No they don’t.
While plausible, I haven’t really figured any ways to test for this without cracking my Sony open.
That’s why you connect them to an isolated playpen with no access to anything else or the internet.
Then they’re still gonna try to connect to other devices to shoot their data off.
The WiFi antenna is in use. Unless they have two antennas. Or do freaky stuff. They might do freaky stuff. Well.