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.)
In capitalist America, TV watches you!
Would it work to block outgoing traffic at the router?
I seem to remember a book where TVs watching people was a core element of the setting. Ah well
A doubleplusgood book.
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.
https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV-category1category73.html
This brand sells all non-smart TVs at non-commecial prices.
Thank you!
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.
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.
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.
Is it possible to open the TV up and just break the wifi module?
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
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.
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.
Source?
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.
You’ll have to desolder the WiFi card inside. Check teardowns of TVs from now when deciding to buy a new one
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☺
Thanks for sharing, turned it off on my tv and shared it
Disgusting
