A hacker reverse-engineered his own Samsung TV and found alarming spying activity, including code that used connected devices’ microphones to listen to users.
For targeted ads. I mean, given that there’s a spy device building a detailed profile of your behavior in the “privacy” of your own home, they wouldn’t use it for anything more nefarious than targeted ads, right?
Smart TVs were pretty clearly designed for exactly this purpose.
We were considering replacing our old Samsung with a newer one. The “old one” is from the pre-AI era. Now it looks like the old one will stay for a while…
You can get slop-free ones by purchasing “commercial monitors”
That’s the plan.
There may also be an overlap with models called “digital signage displays”, depending on brand.
They can be great because they’re warrantied for 24/7 use, unlike the regular kind. But otherwise are just a display, all TV capability gone, and the smart features are limited to centralised remote control over the network.
The Samsung ones we use at work for the likes of CCTV are so stripped down they don’t even have the ability to update their firmware over the network. Gotta load that onto a USB drive.
Too rich for my blood. I use a 40" for my PC monitor and a 55" on the wall for streaming pirated movies and shows.
What’s weird is that my second TV works as a second monitor with while showing no internet. It’s certainly not a listed DHCP lease. WTH?!
Or you keep them offline and use a dedicated “smart” device like an Apple TV or Android TV.
That just moves the problem to a different company. None of which is any better in the long run.
Cheaper to replace. And in case of Android TV also more open.
https://github.com/hkamran80/blocklists/blob/main/smart-tv.txt
Eventually they’ll route all traffic through their network.
My TV’s a little older, but this finally got me off my ass to firewall it. Turns out it’s not online.
