An investigation by Gamers Nexus found LG smart TVs sweep local networks to map phones and nearby devices. Tests also showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet.
“The toaster is listening” in 2006 🤣
“The toaster is listening” in 2026 😬
Frakking toasters.
I thought I had disabled everything but mine was still connected to WiFi. Thanks for the reminder. I disconnected it and blocked it at the router.
Tired of doing this for so many devices. We truly live in a full on surveillance state.
Suggestions for people who only need and want a good screen instead of an ad infested spy station?
Use them as such, why would you give your screen Internet? Attach a Mediacenter of your choice, e.g. Kodi.
Update firmware over USB.
you would think its as simple as that, but i have seen reports of lg automatically connecting to open networks if they are available
theres also the possibility of them adding some cellular transmitter in the future
maybe the only way is the desolder all the wireless antennas…
Faraday laminate around the antenna also.
Why? Why would I accept a device in my home that will snoop on me if I use it as intended?
I think the point is they can’t upload anything if they’re not connected. Unfortunately, they’re some of the best OLED TVs right now in terms of the display
I do understand that but I don’t think it’s something we should accept. Next thing these fuckers have their own 5G antenna and connect to mobile with zero config, then what, rip out the antenna or literally wrap it in tinfoil?
My TV is 15 years old and works fine. Getting the best TV out there is not very meaningful anymore.
Ironically LG still makes good screens. Just don’t ever connect their TVs to the network.
Edit: If you must connect it to a network connect it to a different VLAN (Guest network) with no other devices.
This is perfectly legal for a reason.
Are they monitoring everyone closely? No.
Are they monitoring those running for office, those they find “of interest”, certain key words and phrases, and so on?
CERTAINLY.
AI helps them to sort through the noise; this is the Patriot Act manifest. Companies are eager to comply.
Decades ago, they would have to “wire” your house to monitor you, tapping your phone and the like.
Today, they simply have to notice you, and they can get all of the data they want at will.
If your goal is political and unpopular with the powers that be, using the internet or phone will never be even vaguely secure. The TV is watching you… and the fridge and the washing machine and so on.
If you think your device is secure; that very same device is guaranteed to be insecure. They are supremely interested in those who want “secret” communications.
Correct vibe but many unfounded assertions that cannot possibly be correct in technicality
“We own the glass, we own the TV, we own the living room. We know who is in an LG home.” –LG President of Ads
These are the Gamers Nexus videos btw. Support them and their work. Get some cool shirts and physical media while you’re at it.
in capitalist America , you don’t listen to tv , tv listen to you !
It’s fair to make it “you don’t watch TV, TV watches you!”
Which I feel like might have been a real Yakov Smirnoff joke way back when.
Kind of — Bob Hope made the joke in the late 1950s:
Bob Hope, back from his Russian junket, noted that there had been TV in all the rooms of his Moscow hotel–”only it watches you”
Brilliant!
A screen that records audio without your consent? Maybe, they got inspiration from 1984
Luigi
is it same with very old lg? (20 years i think)
I have a Samsung TV that I suspect does this. Once upon a time (back when I was less knowledgeable about this practice) I connected my TV to the internet. I have since been totally I able to forget my network from the TV, even a factory reset didn’t wipe the network settings from it. I’ve had to block it from the network at a router level.
I only discovered it was still doing this when I got a new router, and I had a popup on my TV saying “software update downloaded and complete” and I was wondering how tf it did that even though I’d gone through the process of forgetting the network, and seemingly the settings showed it had been “done”.
Shady fucks.
Checks out. I wish this was a conspiracy - but they got caught shaking hands w CIA. most people forgot
using US tech - either domestic or foreign; youre being spied by both marketers or governments. sad but true
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cia-hacked-samsung-smart-tvs-wikileaks-vault-7/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/07/cia-targeting-devices-smartphones-pc-tv-wikileaks
Rip out the antenna.
Agreed, but, router block is far less work. 🤣
TVs shouldn’t get internet…
Of course they should. But you should be able to control what it does with that connection.
A TV just needs to be a dumb display and nothing more.
No. I would never use a TV that isn’t connected to a computer. It would be great if that computer was built-in with good peripherals, but only on the condition that the user owns it.
I didn’t know rooting was a thing for LG tv’s, but I’m definitely looking into it now.
Back in the 90’s we had designated computer desks, where the big ass CRT and big ass desktop PC lived. Most people would use a surge protector power strip with a master power switch, and they would use that one switch to turn on and off the CRT monitor, PC, printer, desk lamp, etc…
That seems like a great idea right about how.
I still do that and never did it any differently. Mainly to conserve energy, since my parental household was poor and we actually could not afford to leave appliances running when not in use. This became a habit and now I’ve been incidentally preventing data harvesting for years. I do need to get an old 90s alarm clock though, since I cannot always turn off my phone at night when I have plans in the morning. Also GrapheneOS.
I’m currently only with a CRT TV and running GrapheneOS, sadly I’m stuck with windows 11 so I’m still tracked there.
The alarm clock is a good idea too.
Cellphones do this same thing though.
Not all of them. Some have hardware kill switches and don’t run iOS or Android.
username checks out
I’m very glad that my “unsubstantiated fearmongering” regarding smart TVs doesn’t look that unsubstantiated anymore. I’ve Bad my girldfriends Samsung smartTV Lockes down once she moved in with that thing and I saw what kind of connections that thing made.
