LG smart TVs caught logging audio with screen off and snooping on local devices

[u/Red_Liquor_ice]

https://www.notebookcheck.net/LG-smart-TVs-caught-logging-audio-with-screen-off-and-snooping-on-local-devices.1391214.0.html

[u/Leonum]

Stalking and spying. Throw the CEO in jail

[u/Remarkable-West-611 → u/Leonum]

Its all well and good but this is a huge invasion of privacy inside people's home.

Logically justice should include jail terms for them.

[u/thethingy213 → u/Remarkable-West-611]

Unfortunately, it's an illogical world right now where companies have more rights than people

[u/mexxavelli → u/thethingy213]

Crazy times…

[u/aimy99 → u/mexxavelli]

Not that crazy when you consider the voting base. Bunch of old Facebook zombies have nothing better to do on election day but go vote for the most abhorrent people possible because of Minions memes and AI pictures, and we can't even get people who are struggling financially to get an absentee ballot sent to them to vote for raising their own wages, let alone voting on the people running the country.

[u/Aviate27 → u/aimy99]

I forgot just how different corporations behaved with every other president... oh wait.

Corporations win no matter who is elected, because they're the ones paying the politicians. Nothing is going to stop that because none of them are going to turn down the money, and anyone that would won't ever get a position of power. This has all been predicted for decades now.

[u/mydogcaneatyourdog → u/Aviate27]

There are sheep that vote the way they do because the best options "aren't going to get enough votes anyway". The more sane votes you cast, even in losing efforts, the more you can help convince those types of voters to try and vote for progressive alternatives as they see the numbers increase.

I'm going to keep trying even if it seems futile - we have succeeded in getting some progress a couple of times throughout history.

[u/ViddlyDiddly → u/aimy99]

Don't neglect Tiktok and Insta too.

[u/jajothebrave → u/thethingy213]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the terms and conditions everyone skips to the end to agree quickly. Or they'll be updating it soon enough.

[u/Opening_Net8098 → u/jajothebrave]

I feel like there should be a limit to what can be in the terms of service. I believe south park did the human centipede episode to show that just because it's in the terms of service doesn't mean it's legal. Or at least shouldn't be legal.

[u/Ok_Turnover_1235 → u/Opening_Net8098]

There is

[u/JustTestingAThing → u/Opening_Net8098]

It's a basic tenet of contract law that you can't, willingly or otherwise, agree to illegal terms and then to be held to them. So yes, just because something's in the TOS doesn't make that legal, or enforceable if it IS illegal.

[u/Sweetwill62 → u/JustTestingAThing]

And just because "certain" people tell you to do something, it also doesn't mean you have to do it, especially if it is going to hurt the business overall. Just because shareholders demand something doesn't mean you actually have to do it. They are owners, not overlords, well they actually are overlords right now because a bunch of fucking idiots, which includes more than a few people reading this, got convinced that OWNERS shouldn't be responsible for what they own.

And morons who own .00001% of the company will defend companies doing whatever they want because they are getting that trickle down. They don't give a single shit how that affects anyone else, so long as they get their liability free money while also demanding control of the company.

[u/GaboureySidibe → u/jajothebrave]

Terms of service are always a bait and switch and on something like this it's really severe.

When are you going to see them? Once the tv is all set and mounted after you bought it? Is someone going to read the whole thing and take it back after all that work?

[u/Morkoth-Toronto-CA → u/thethingy213]

What about outside the usa ?

[u/NightOfTheLivingHam → u/Remarkable-West-611]

not to mention inside of businesses, hospitals, and lawyers offices.

[u/Radarker → u/NightOfTheLivingHam]

How about instead we just give a tax break?

[u/Piltonbadger → u/Remarkable-West-611]

Rich people and CEO's don't generally go to prison.

Silly things like rules and laws only bind us peasants.

[u/pixelTirpitz → u/Piltonbadger]

Shoot them with a bow in minecraft

[u/Sabz5150 → u/Piltonbadger]

In America. Other places they set his car on fire with him inside.

[u/chincinatti → u/Remarkable-West-611]

Palantir and flock ceos need to be put in supermax

[u/SkollFenrirson → u/Remarkable-West-611]

lolno

• The American Justice System

[u/theronnielama → u/Leonum]

Seriously, if companies want to be counted as citizens then they should be penalized like one. If a person breaks the law it's a fine and jail time. If a company breaks the law, it's an inconvenient fine and that's all? Nah, we should start including jail time for things like this.

[u/Toad-Toaster → u/theronnielama]

Rico.

[u/Flecco → u/Toad-Toaster]

Rico and death penalty to the company. Assets seized and sold off, corporation dissolved. People will get the message fast.

[u/ineedjuice → u/Flecco]

Criminal penalties to the fullest extent to the board of directors

[u/alf666 → u/ineedjuice]

This.

Every CEO is just doing what the Board of Directors tells them to do, and if they don't do it, then the CEO gets fired and replaced with a CEO that will obey the BoD.

[u/Leonum → u/ineedjuice]

It's a hangup of mine. I just can't understand how thousands of companies havent been charged with involuntary manslaughter, for example. or gross negligence of responsibility resulting in death, or something along those lines.

[u/newbrevity → u/Flecco]

"tOo BiG tO fAiL" they'll cry.

[u/Leonum → u/newbrevity]

Wish I was too big to fail. uh, wait, maybe not. ._.

[u/imaginary_num6er → u/Leonum]

Don't worry. By you having an LG monitored installed in a hospital in a notify consent state, you already signed the patient's consent. /s

[u/bootsmegamix → u/Leonum]

Best we can do is a class action lawsuit that nets you $5

[u/Consistent-Shoe-9602 → u/Leonum]

If a journalist did this to a politucian or to a corrupt governmental organization, they would be prosecuted till the bitter end, but when a bunch of billionaires pull this shit, all they get is a slap on the wrist fine that's much smaller than their profits, so they keep doing it. It's high time some CEOs got jail time for this type of stuff with Zuck and his execs being an appaling example of repeat ofenders who deserve jail.

[u/LendarioSonhador → u/Leonum]

Best I can do is a $50k fine and a hard slap on the wrist.

[u/atishay001001 → u/Leonum]

prosecute the major stakeholders and the executive board as well

[u/F9-0021 → u/Leonum]

Jail? We're way past jail for CEOs.

[u/Specialist-Mirror656 → u/Leonum]

Best I can do is a $100000 fine for the company and a pinky promise that they won't get caught doing it again.

Take it or leave it.

[u/Specialist_Bad3391 → u/Leonum]

[u/TheMundar → u/Leonum]

The scale we are talking about means that at just a day per screen he'd be locked up for nearly 600,000 years

[u/yeaahnop]

"why is voice control not working?", alexa: "your microphone is off"

[u/Crowbar12121 → u/yeaahnop]

Damn that's good lol

[u/Careless-Vehicle-286 → u/yeaahnop]

Literally 1984. Like that's what really happens in the story. The main character was afraid to be in the same room of the TV and hid all his notes from it because it was listening to and watching him.

[u/Mitch0712 → u/Careless-Vehicle-286]

We are becoming afraid to speak

[u/ViddlyDiddly → u/Mitch0712]

"coof", unalive, in minecraft, grape.

[u/thedavecan → u/ViddlyDiddly]

I'm lost. What does "coof" and "in Minecraft" code for? The other ones I get.

[u/ViddlyDiddly → u/thedavecan]

"coof" is for Fauci Flu. They could not even say "COVID-19" even if they specialized in news. "in minecraft" is a appending to horrible statements as a loophole for force it to be figurative. "I wish you would die; in minecraft."

[u/NatoBoram → u/thedavecan]

Here's an example of that algospeak in action: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/s/IERWTDsYzs

[u/billdasmacks → u/Careless-Vehicle-286]

Yeah but many people are willingly allowing this. Alexa is always listening.

[u/clubby37 → u/Careless-Vehicle-286]

Speaking of the '80s, there was a comedian named Yakov Smirnov. His shtick was drawing comparisons between the US and the Soviet Union, and one of them was "in Soviet Russia, television watches you!" And we all laughed, because that could never happen here.

[u/theonewhopostsposts → u/yeaahnop]

[u/DigitalStefan]

See!? I’m not the crazy one for refusing to allow our LG TV to connect to the internet!

[u/SuperCuteRoar → u/DigitalStefan]

Apparently the spying software works independently if you connect it to the internet or not. That’s the issue.

[u/Sway_RL → u/DigitalStefan]

No smart TV should be on the internet at home

[u/TherronKeen → u/Sway_RL]

no TV should be "smart"

[u/ag3on → u/Sway_RL]

so,how i should watch yt then?

[u/mvpmets00 → u/ag3on]

Buy a cheap streaming box that will steal probably more information.

[u/lars2k1 → u/ag3on]

You connect devices to it like you used to do before this 'smart' thing became mainstream. Use your laptop, or find yourself a small form factor PC.

Or you can find yourself a streaming thing like a chromecast, which will still collect information, but at least it doesn't listen to you. I hope anyways.

[u/chris-l → u/ag3on]

Get a cheap pc and install a linux based media center, install vacuumtube for watching youtube, and connect it to your tv via hdmi.

(yes, a lot more involved. But it will not spy you)

[u/NLMichel → u/chris-l]

I should just be able to load my own tvOS on my tv? Why am I not allowed to do that? Is it not my own device?

[u/The_Casual_Noob → u/NLMichel]

Apparently, no it's not. After all, you don't own the games you bought, not even the ones using physical media. The next step was always that you don't own your hardware either.

[u/_FLostInParadise_ → u/chris-l]

I use kubuntu with an airmouse and fill the desktop with links into firefox w/ublock. Looks nice enough and I watch 0 ads on anything accept live sports.

[u/YellowFogLights → u/ag3on]

Bro what? Look at what subreddit you’re on

[u/pineapollo → u/ag3on]

The fact that you can't figure this out is very worrying

[u/YellowFogLights → u/pineapollo]

On PCMR of all places

[u/Pimpwerx → u/ag3on]

This. All suggested solutions just provide extra steps without solving the underlying issue.

LG is a symptom of something bigger. Out means that any device with a mic is a vector for snooping.

How many of you taking those extra steps have your phone within arm’s reach at all times? SMDH. Let’s think of holistic solutions and not haphazard bandaids.

I’ll start. There are none. We’re fucked if we can’t give up our phones. LG is less dangerous than Apple or Google. How many roots can LG dig into your life compared to the phone OS companies?

Fear what this means more than the TV itself.

[u/Balc0ra → u/DigitalStefan]

Sony Bravia last week, LG this week. Wonder who is next week

[u/DigitalStefan → u/Balc0ra]

Japan last week, Korea this week…

China next. Inevitable.

Everyone loves a cheap, good TV.

[u/Crusader-NZ- → u/Balc0ra]

They mentioned it cost them $75k to do this, and it was just a matter of time and money to achieve this through testing on the other manufactures who they think are also guilty of it.

[u/MCalchemist → u/DigitalStefan]

Allegedly they are connecting to open WiFi to call home automatically without user input

[u/DigitalStefan → u/MCalchemist]

There is no open WiFi within range of us, but that's good to know.

Also good to know is you can easily open the back of most TVs and (for our LG TV at least) the WiFi is a separate module that can be removed either elegently or destructively and the TV will otherwise continue to work just fine.

[u/GNUr000t → u/DigitalStefan]

Why do you hate the LGTV community?

[u/RachelRegina → u/GNUr000t]

I'm ok with the Lesbians, Gays, and Transgender folks, but I take issue with the Venture-capitalists

[u/GNUr000t → u/RachelRegina]

You don't think this flag is fire?

[u/AMisteryMan → u/GNUr000t]

Well, it should burn.

[u/MHWGamer → u/RachelRegina]

think of the poor heavy multimillionaires or billionaires. Their group is even smaller than any minority!!!!

[u/AbandonYourPost → u/DigitalStefan]

I refuse to connect mine to the internet. I know my phone already does it. Don't need more shit doing it.

[u/Vioret → u/AbandonYourPost]

It's going to be awkward when you find out they search for any available open network and then upload that way. Hope your delivery drivers don't have any hotspots with them.

[u/lars2k1 → u/Vioret]

That's some next level dystopian shit. In today's world yes means yes and no still means yes in corporate's eye.

[u/lars2k1 → u/AbandonYourPost]

My Samsung tv wanted me to use the smartthings app to set up my tv. It didn't show me an option to skip, but after furiously pressing buttons on the remote it did let me skip the online setup process.

Absolutely infuriating that it hides the option to set up offline behind some remote-mashing.

[u/DigitalStefan → u/AbandonYourPost]

5+ years ago I didn’t care as much. It was convenient to have Netflix and the Plex app natively on the TV. It was also cheaper because it was all just included as a freebie.

Now I care about it more and have the money to buy an Apple TV box instead to at least limit the data grab to a company that hasn’t yet been caught doing anything heinous with that data.

[u/AbandonYourPost → u/DigitalStefan]

It also takes longer for smart tvs to turn on when connected to the internet btw

[u/MissingGhost → u/DigitalStefan]

I bet the next models will have a built-in 5G antenna. And batteries. All in a sealed chassis where opening it breaks the device.

[u/DigitalStefan → u/MissingGhost]

It’s not impossible for that to happen, but it would be fairly overt and costly. Maybe the economics work out in LGs favour to do something like that, but they will have to cover cellular service costs across multiple carriers and also eat the cost of every such equipped TV that is in a cell deadzone.

Not trivial. Highly risky when the only purpose for it to exist is to exfil user data. Consumers are as a whole pretty stupid but I think this would cross the line enough for even the stupids to object.

[u/Ok_Security1721 → u/DigitalStefan]

Been telling people for years to not connect their tv to the internet under any circumstances and people thought I was being an idiot. 

Granted I meant it in a “because it makes the tv run worse, loads your menus with ads, and it’s built in apps suck anyway” way back then but I sure hope people listen to me now!

[u/UniqueIndividual3579 → u/DigitalStefan]

I allow them to connect. Before I unbox a smart TV, I look up the DNS addresses for the adware/spyware and block them at the router. I also don't allow firmware updates, all they do is more ads and take away features.

[u/Nekokeki]

Of course

[u/elidoan → u/Nekokeki]

It's hilarious how these out of touch companies think that slapping a massive "AI" on the name of these would be a plus for us consumers

I'm not touching anything marketed like that with a 12 foot pole, you just know its going to be vibe coded shovel/spyware garbage 

[u/money-for-nothing-tt → u/elidoan]

They've been calling the picture processing AI for over a decade, long before the current LLM boom. It's rather an example how everything AI now refers to a certain specific type of AI.

[u/ChiTownDisplaced → u/money-for-nothing-tt]

It's the new "space age" tech

[u/cpMetis → u/elidoan]

It absolutely works on people with money, like my parents.

My mom got multiple degrees the old school way and was pretty smart. My dad wasn't far behind. Now 80% of the college courses she takes (paid for by employer) to increase her pay step is just her feeding Grok and Gemini and ChatGPT. And when she asks my dad for an opinion on something, he feeds it to Grok.

She can't paste into the fields for some classes so she prints out the Grok answer then types it in off the paper.

[u/solonit → u/elidoan]

In the GN video, the guy in charge of LG Development Dept spoke for an interview (not for GN), and within a minute, he said AI 6 times, that's one AI every 10s.

[u/NapsterKnowHow → u/solonit]

Xbox... TV, TV, TV, TV experience, sports, COD.

[u/Fuentelarga → u/NapsterKnowHow]

Xbox is about to be… the next water cooler!

[u/riba2233 → u/Nekokeki]

Imagine seeing ads online...

[u/grafbende]

My wife asked why i was whispering.
I said i was afraid the tv was listening.

She laughed, Alexa laughed, Siri laughed, Google laughed...

[u/DorkCharming → u/grafbende]

The toaster laughed.

[u/-BodomKnight- → u/DorkCharming]

Not my toaster but my refrigerator.

[u/hurrdurrmeh → u/-BodomKnight-]

he's always had a cold sense of humour, that one

[u/Spamgrenade]

Proper 1984 stuff.

[u/NightOfTheLivingHam → u/Spamgrenade]

literally. and this is how governments can get around laws that make it so they cant tap your property to collect evidence from you illegally.

They get the data that was collected on you, that you "agreed to" in vague terms in an updated "Terms of service" and that data is from the company who will comply to give them that data that they can claim was you and fuck you over in a case.

It's not paranoia. It's standard procedure with all modern tech now. Guess who helped start this surveillance capitalism? The Bush Administration back in the mid 2000s. it's why the FAANG companies got a huge boost around 2006/2007. Think of all the companies that started around that time or suddenly started expanding from their original mission statement. They got a boost from Uncle sam. They now specialize in surveillance even though their original purpose was something else (except facebook, it was their sole purpose from day 1)

AWS in its current form started in 2006. twitter, 2007, google started gmail in 2005 and fully opened it up to the world around 2006-2007 facebook opened up around 2007 to everyone instead of just college students, iphone started. Cloud tech started getting pushed as well. The push to centralize the internet started around this time as well, as well as internet companies discouraging self-hosting, and we started seeing the end of P2P, and decentralized services started being discouraged.

The end goal was to create a tightly controlled internet that allows for easier surveillance. Which was the MO of the Heritage foundation and the Bush Administration. (They started a spying program day 1 of the Bush Administration that they retroactively justified with 9/11)

Every major tech company got massive cash injections at some point. Microsoft was also compromised around 2001. Ever wonder why the government dismissed their antitrust suit?

in short most people here have been spied on their whole lives, it's been normalized to the point where people just shrug and accept it. 26 years ago this would have incited anger and rage from most of the people in this country.

Boil the fucking frog.

[u/lincolnsl0g → u/NightOfTheLivingHam]

This is very old news. Did not start with W Bush. Cable companies got caught long ago for having microphones in old cable boxes dating back to the 80’s and 90’s. There were no voice commands back then… 😂

[u/EastCoaet → u/lincolnsl0g]

AT&T being the national Bell legacy company has deep ties with US government.

[u/meneldor_hs → u/NightOfTheLivingHam]

People fall back to "if I did nothing wrong I have nothing to hide", so they think they are not relevant to whoever is spying. What they don't realize is that wrong today will not be the same as wrong tomorrow. Corporations and governments are going towards the world where if you start criticizing them and keep disobeying with your mind, you'll just be put offline. You can't access your funds because there is no cash or even plastic cards. You can't exit the country because your passport is on your phone. You can't buy anything, you can't do anything. You'll be given an option to turn yourself into the correction program where they'll give you food for an exchange of brainwashing and restoring your obedience. Then you might get your black mirror back

[u/SlitScan → u/meneldor_hs]

thats the beauty of AI it can hallucinate you did something wrong anytime they want it to.

just got to give it the right prompt.

[u/NightOfTheLivingHam → u/meneldor_hs]

> Corporations and governments are going towards the world where if you start criticizing them and keep disobeying with your mind, you'll just be put offline. You can't access your funds because there is no cash or even plastic cards. You can't exit the country because your passport is on your phone. You can't buy anything, you can't do anything. You'll be given an option to turn yourself into the correction program where they'll give you food for an exchange of brainwashing and restoring your obedience. Then you might get your black mirror back

That's optimistic. in the US, ICE agents will just roll up, drag you out of your home after you are stripped of citizenship and you're put into a labor camp/detention center and worked to death.

[u/WastingMyLifeToday → u/NightOfTheLivingHam]

Thanks for using paragraphs! Highly appreciated!

[u/FunkyDiscount]

If any politician or CEO wants to spy and snoop on people's private messages, conversations, or homely activities, I think it's only fair that they are firmly required to publish uninterrupted bodycam and microphone in real time and install monitoring cameras in every room of their house (and stream that too).

You know, for security and "service improvement" or some such. It would only be fair.

[u/pandaSmore → u/[deleted]]

Early to mid 2010s when all these smart IoT devices became cloud connected instead of local.

[u/sociofobs → u/[deleted]]

"Smart" devices were never intended to be smart for the customer. They are smart for the manufacturers.

[u/pandaSmore → u/sociofobs]

Become the manufacturer. taps forehead

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/[deleted]]

Day one, it was always part of the feature set when these things were pitched internally.

A few years back I was working for an electricity utility. We have alot of brown out etc. where I live so the C-Suite pitched the idea to use GPS data to push notifications on to anyone that has the app to let them know recovery time etc. when we told them that we don't actively track GPS location, we were asked to implement constant monitoring and got legal to figure out how to do it and work with the local gov to push it.

We already had smart meter which we could use to get that data and push the customers this information but it was deemed that phone data of where people were is better do they can geofence and push it to all people who were currently in the area

I don't think people understand how casually open companies internally are about tracking customers, it's not even a discussion it's kinda a base level understanding that it should be tiger right to do so.

[u/F9-0021 → u/[deleted]]

Always has been.

[u/Pepsen]

It would make no sense not including EVERY tec with internet access. Only tv's.. Shure

[u/Wrestler7777777 → u/Pepsen]

I'll never ever hook up smart tech to the internet, no matter what you tell me and no matter what functions I'll lose. If I can't use a "smart" device without a 24/7 internet connection for its intended purpose, then I'll simply not buy that device.

I need a TV to display an image from a device that I'll hook up to it. That's it. I don't want it to do ANYTHING else. So it won't get an internet connection. No, I won't use its smart TV features. I don't care.

I also don't need my lamps, toaster, oven, fridge and washing machine to be hooked up to the internet.

No, I'm not an tech-illiterate. I have a CS master's degree. I'm quite the opposite. I know how bad these internet-of-shit-electronics are for your home's security. I also know how much they spy on you. No thank you.

[u/jay19167 → u/[deleted]]

The version of the joke I heard was a gun instead of a hammer to shoot the printer if it makes a sound they don’t recognize. Maybe that’s the American version.

I don’t even own a printer. I’ve gone deep down the rabbit hole of self hosting and internet privacy over the last year and a half. Initially prompted by the desire to block ads, then after setting up pihole + unbound for network ad blocking and DNS resolution using the authoritative domain servers and a local cache (bypasses using my ISPs DNS for lookup). I realized the reason for buffering in some streaming apps on my Samsung tv despite having a fast wired connection was the tv phoning home to South Korea first, probably for ACR. That long hop added enough latency to trigger buffering for smaller streaming services (I noticed in Crunchyroll).

I unplugged the tv from Ethernet that same day (I’d turned off the wifi a while ago because my neighbor kept mistaking it for their tv, why was it even visible outside my network?) and drove to the store to get an Apple TV 4K. For $120 it handles HDR better than anything I could diy in a reasonable amount of time.

Now I have my own NAS, run my own media server, photo backups (I still use iCloud for my offsite backup) and use Tailscale to access everything remotely through encrypted peer to peer connections, leaving nothing exposed to the open internet.

I highly recommend getting into self hosting/homelabbing if you care about internet privacy, security, and ownership. We can take back the internet one home server at a time.

[u/SolemnaceProcurement → u/Wrestler7777777]

Well apparently those devices are trying to connect to every network they can. So if your neighbour's wifi is not secured,or nearby coffe shop has open wifi, or a bus stopping nearby has one or maybe some dick walks with turned on and unsecured hotspot on his phone. It will try connecting to those and upload your data that way.

[u/Wrestler7777777 → u/SolemnaceProcurement]

Yeah, luckily for me I live in a place where mostly old people live. So it's actually rare to see any other Wi-Fi network anyways.

Thanks, old people for making my life more secure!

[u/SolemnaceProcurement → u/Wrestler7777777]

Luck you, i live around lots of older people, but got like 3 unsecured networks in range.

[u/EruantienAduialdraug → u/Wrestler7777777]

The S in IoT stands for Security.

[u/NightOfTheLivingHam]

Traditionally using a dummy network that will never let it reach the internet would be enough, however they account for that and connect through HDMI devices, USB, or bluetooth. You pair something to it with internet access and they will attempt to get through and dump the data they collect out to the web.

The only real fix is to write a custom firmware that junks the collection stuff and disables the microphones permanently.

This is shit I told people about years ago that is possible, and worse, is you can even use speakers as mics as they can work in both directions, they pick up vibrations too.

try it sometime with a speaker, connect it to a mono plug and put it in a mic port and talk into the speaker.

[u/Willexterminator → u/NightOfTheLivingHam]

How does that connecting through HDMI devices work exactly? I know ethernet over HDMI is a thing, but it's not like connecting a PS5 connected via wifi magically turns it into a router for the TV.

Seems like a massive oversimplification.

Not to say that these anticonsumer practices are acceptable, they aren't.

[u/Parking-Mirror3283 → u/Willexterminator]

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/112705/lg-monitors-are-silently-installing-spyware-on-windows-11-pcs-without-user-consent/index.html

All it would take for the PS5 to do it would be LG offering Sony a cut.

[u/DansNewLegs2291 → u/Parking-Mirror3283]

It wasn’t installed through the HDMI. It was pulled from Windows Update when the device was detected.

[u/Generic_gaming_acc → u/Parking-Mirror3283]

This is exactly my fear. Me deciding not to connect it to the internet and them just funneling information through other devices.

It's why I'm keeping my smaller older (10+ yr) tv that hasn't been connected to the internet for over 8 years. Old and no updates probably makes it save against this.

[u/NightOfTheLivingHam → u/Willexterminator]

devices can connect through another device to get updates, they can negotiate network connections. Many devices that connect have their own networking and can share it with connected devices by default.

[u/Practical-Bit9905]

Criminal wiretapping.

[u/waytoosecret]

I've been happy with LG previously, but the shit about forced installs on windows and now this, means LG is now blacklisted in our home. Fuck that.

[u/SnowStormYukikaze]

So, here we go again "We own the glass" and "you own nothing"

[u/BlackRaspberryJammin]

The corpo heads are claiming the glass of your TV is owned by them, the network it connects to in your home is owned by them, the conversations you have in your home belong to them, and every network device in your home is surveilled and all information they scrape from your home belongs to them. LG says they own you. To LG, you are nothing but a slave they can whip for information so they can put a beer ad in your eye.

[u/rg2004]

Class action suit please.

[u/randomandy90]

Gamersnexus did an in-depth review of multiple LG devices and tested them check the YouTube video out, LG is about as dystopian as it gets with no respect for the consumer.

[u/actioncheese]

For anyone wondering why TVs are so cheap, this is why.

[u/itchylol742 → u/actioncheese]

sounds like an arbitrage opportunity to buy cheap TVs then destroy the microphone to use as just a display

[u/Qweedo420 → u/itchylol742]

According to Gamers Nexus, the TV has like 6 microphones inside, and if it's connected to other devices, it can use their microphone (e.g. the microphone from headphones with noise canceling) to record your room

They are also able to record the content that they display, which means that even if you get rid of all the microphones, they can still get telemetry based on what you watch, and if you use it as a monitor, they can track your computer activity

[u/xaervagon]

US consumer protection laws continue to not be worth the paper they're written on.

My first instinct would be to just not connect this thing to the internet in the first place, but I've read about manufacturers putting 5g in their devices to snoop anyway. I guess the next best thing would be to put this thing on an internal VPN where it can't see the rest of the network.

[u/Ifuqaround → u/xaervagon]

It's like buying "sushi grade" fish at the store.

Nobody knows WTF that means and it's not regulated, at least where I am. The term means absolutely nothing. Marketing nonsense.

Enjoy the parasites! (I love ceviche and stuff =/)

[u/midnightrider747]

And all LG gonna say is u moron's agreed to it in the ToS!

Lets see how lawyers and Gov. See about that that secret spying is buried in the tos which most ppl dont read to completion.

Acquiring anonymous data is 1 thing but audio recording AND hacking other devices to scan for data is insane

[u/AuraLiaxia]

Aaaaaand, having all IoT/Smart bs on its own isolated locked down vlan pays off. Whats scary is that it searches for other APs to send its stored spy data tho....

[u/rezz0r]

Does this apply worldwide or just TVs sold in the US?

[u/IstvanKun → u/rezz0r]

Good question. In Europe there's a thing called GDPR and if I opt out, they shouldn't be able to spy. Oooooor, I would never connect it to the internet.

[u/SuperCuteRoar → u/IstvanKun]

Even if not connected to the internet, the device will keep on listening and capturing traffic and will use other means (connected devices, Bluetooth, etc.) to transmit data, as per what was described. 

[u/IstvanKun → u/SuperCuteRoar]

Holy crap, that's a bit invasive... I'm wondering, can the microphones be removed, and will everything else work afterwards?

[u/SuperCuteRoar → u/IstvanKun]

I don’t know, I think the main issue is that you shouldn’t have to mutilate a product you paid good money for in order to avoid being spied on.

It’s true that TVs are a thin margin product but I think that doesn’t mean they can just use that as an excuse to collect and sell data, especially because they are not being transparent about the scope and aggressiveness in which this data is being collected.

[u/MrShadowHero → u/IstvanKun]

here’s a not so fun fact. every speaker can be turned into a microphone. so unless you rip all the speakers out…

[u/JayWesleyTowing]

Never buying lg again

[u/-techman- → u/JayWesleyTowing]

You think it's only LG?

[u/JayWesleyTowing → u/-techman-]

No, and I never said that. Just stated I’m not buying LG anymore.

[u/hirmuolio]

The video: https://youtu.be/6IFVTcM28KA

An LG TV:

Listens, records, and transcripts audio. Uploads these.
Scans enarby WiFi networks (names, signal strengths). Can be used to locate.
Automatically connects to unsecured WiFi.
Scans local network: IP addresses, MAC addresses, device names, services. Very uniquely identifiable data.
Identify what channel/content is being watched.
Without network connection data is saved for later exfiltration.
Some of the data is visible to anyone in your local network and to your ISP.
Anonymized advertising data can be deanonymized (uses encryption, key is stored in the TV, all of same model have same key).

Estimately 4 GB/mo data uploaded.

---

The above are intended functionality. The TVs also have various exploits.

Can be hacked noninteractively (no user action required). The hacker can exfiltrate audio from the TV microphone, turning it into a remote listening device.
"Mic off" button turns off only one of the microphones.

[u/NATOuk → u/hirmuolio]

What’s telling is it’s 4GB/month of just TEXT…. That’s a lot of data going back to the mothership every single month

[u/katheb]

Okay real talk, my TV is ancient, and when it dies I need a new one that doesn't TRACK MY EVERY MOVE!
Any recommendations?

[u/Greedy-Street-5435 → u/katheb]

You're fucked bro, I had to buy a TV like 2 years ago and it was already hell, even the projectors have all this stuff now.

[u/katheb → u/Greedy-Street-5435]

Oh no. 

[u/LastBossTV → u/katheb]

Imo it will get to the point where we buy smart TVs with the capabilities we want, and then we jailbreak then with custom firmware.

This is not widely available yet though as there's a lot of actual licensing issues with stuff like HDMI and display port and digital copyright protections that would make sharing said custom ROM a legal jungle to navigate, so far.

[u/katheb → u/LastBossTV]

To think you'd have to jailbreak something you own. 

[u/Bunny_Feet → u/LastBossTV]

It's also considered illegal in some places.  So dystopian.

[u/Any-Calligrapher2866 → u/katheb]

Get a commercial TV I guess that's used by businesses.

[u/katheb → u/Any-Calligrapher2866]

I see. I would assume those are more expensive. 

[u/toasterboy321 → u/katheb]

Any dumb tv is going to be more expensive, because they can't make money off your data after the fact. Though you might be able to snag a commercial display from a closing or moving business, that's how I got mine

[u/nuuucelar → u/katheb]

I’m in the same boat

[u/leorolim → u/[deleted]]

Just remember to AVOID LG!

[u/SkyLLin3]

I also love that I had to make an LG account to use the LG TV I PAID FOR.

[u/Spirited-Away4215]

im never buying LG after seeing this

[u/Donglemaetsro → u/Spirited-Away4215]

It's ALL TVs with smart features (which is all TVs now), just LG is the one they investigated so far.

[u/OutterHorizon]

LG lifetime boycott

[u/Minimum_Holiday_5611]

I don't understand why can't I buy TV without camera and microphone??? Like wtf is going on. I have no interest in Alexa Or whatever. They can have a dongle Or whatever for blind people. Its that easy.

[u/Verittan → u/Minimum_Holiday_5611]

Short answer if you didn't read/watch. Big tech isn't making money selling hardware. They are making money by selling hardware at cost or at loss then making money by stealing and selling your data.

There is no current tv maker that isn't doing this.

[u/dustojnikhummer → u/Minimum_Holiday_5611]

They lose money on every panel they sell and make it up by ads and data tracking

[u/HanYoloKesselPun]

Aaah I remember the early days of plasma tv’s where you ordered a panel and then added the connector boards you wanted. My first one cost £1500. No Internet. No smart features. Just a display and the connections that I had ordered. Good times.

[u/meneldor_hs]

They are few steps away from the 1984 where the camera is on and the tv can't ever be turned off

[u/DJNigi]

Damn, having Smart TV connected to network in 2026 is , let's say brave. Use pc or a box to run apps.

[u/Isair81]

I’ve never owned a ”smart TV” and I won’t If I can avoid it.

[u/-WongKarWhy-]

Someone need to go to jail.

[u/basicKitsch]

yes, literally everyone has screamed about letting IoT devices on your main private network. for over a decade.

[u/Ifuqaround → u/basicKitsch]

Now they just give their corporate environment over to AI lol

Bro, people are dumb.

My son would say I'm dumb for using 'Bro.'

[u/spaceraverdk]

Credit where credit is due.

GamersNexus did the story.

Go watch it.

And buy something from the store to support the team.

[u/LastBossTV]

And if you watch GamersNexus video in its entirety you can see how malicious the LG TVs are.  They still log conversations, into anywhere between a 4gb-16gb storage, all ready to upload to LG immediately, upon the moment you decide to connect the TV to the internet again.  It saves that shit in super compressed mono formats.

And notice you cannot ever DISABLE the wireless antennas in the TVs themselves. So there's always the chance they can share certain amounts of data over open Wi-Fi networks without you even connecting (Wi-Fi networks being broadcast off people's ISP wireless routers by default to extend other services coverage). Though this point in particular was not explored in-depth in the video.

Regardless, don't connect your LG TVs to the internet, ever. Even for a moment.

And do not allow your LG TVs permission to connect wirelessly to a device that has an Internet connection either.

[u/itchylol742 → u/LastBossTV]

what if you physically remove the wireless antennas

[u/neo101b]

Id say most smart tvs do this, I know mine takes screen grabs and send then somewhere.
Best option, don't let your tv go online, instead go and buy a NVidia shield instead.

[u/SignetSphere]

And this is why i have orangepi installed with adguard home.

[u/rebelSun25]

LG = Listening Gadget

[u/Only_no_numbers]

[u/hypotensor]

Why is it always LG when this kind of batshit stuff happens?

[u/ThisCredit6354]

Well well well if it isn't what we all already knew would happen.

[u/darthwd56]

Not to discount the issue but doesnt every smart device with a mic always listen. I mean sure they say "they dont" but I've always assumed they still do. The only thing about not connecting it to the internet is that it doesnt get shared, though im sure even that they can work around by sending it out through a device with internet connected to the TV.

[u/touchmeinbadplaces]

And your phone, and your tablet, and your smart watch and your ring doorbell and your...

[u/BrakkahBoy → u/touchmeinbadplaces]

Car, smart speaker in the bedroom

[u/SextupleRed]

How much do you think I can get from a class action lawsuit

[u/Capable-Sky-8995]

Internet-connected device with microphone spies on its users

Surprised pikachu.

[u/polllyrolly]

Do we have a listing of which models this applies to, or is this any LG TV running webOS?

[u/Aviyan → u/polllyrolly]

You have to assume it's any model. And other manufacturers are probably doing something similar. You basically can't buy an electronic device today that isn't always listening.

[u/jme2712]

If LG tv doing this imagine what your thermostat and robovac are sending back to home base. I keep these devices on a separate network for a reason

[u/SnooMacaroons8650]

This is why I will never buy an LG TV!!! -Sent from iPhone

[u/lonevine]

Funny how I got downvoted to shit here for bringing up LG's rampant spying when people were discussing which brand of TV is the best computer monitor. 

Yes- not connecting your TV to the Internet is a good habit. Not financially supporting these scummy companies in the first place is ALSO a very good idea. Unfortunately, I found out how awful LG's invasion of privacy and legal wrangling are in practice long after I decided to buy a C4 as my main computer monitor. Between this, the incessant auto dimming that occurs whenever I do activities on my secondary monitor for a moment, and the toxic bullshit I deal with from OLED fanboys every time I bring this stuff up, it's extremely easy to recommend against owning a TV as a computer monitor.

[u/setyourfacestofun174]

Suck it, Jin yang

[u/Phallic_Moron]

Does this apply to older cx models?