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LG TVs and monitors said to surveil users and install bloatware without asking (www.notebookcheck.net)
submitted 2 weeks ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

What? How would they do that if they are never connected to WiFi in the first place?

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  • [+] -7 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    They still talk and connect if you want them to or not. The "permissions" is mostly for the apps to talk back and forth. It is still usable by anyone who knows how.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 weeks ago

    Smart TVs do not magically connect to your WiFi without credentials.

    Now if there is an open WiFi available, that might be a way or if the TV has a deal with a carrier to use all that open automatic WiFi.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    A bit more technical details please. How do the connect to what? It sounds a bit like they can just magically connect via telepathy to their home base if you phrase it like that.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    It sounds a bit like they can just magically connect via telepathy to their home base if you phrase it like that.

    Its not that difficult, scan for open wifi, if detected, connect, phone home to spy central.

    The more sinister, each tv that successfully detects a connection to spy central broadcasts a 2nd wifi that the tv can scan for and connect similar to mesh networking.

    There are tons of reasons to want a network connected monitor, the problem is no-one seems interested in producing one without the spyware. I’d love a 40”+ device that supported rtsp, etc but until enough people step up and boycott all this spy crap it’ll never be worth producing better devices. 😞

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago

    Mh, yeah I see the possibility of using an open network in theory, but in practice I haven't seen a open Wifi network in years (excluding business owned ones, but usually you need to confirm something there and can't use them forever). So not sure how feasible that is. The more sinister option is done by Echo devices for example (that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Sidewalk), but also requires a second device nearby. Much more possible possible though, if similar devices are nearby. But that can't be hidden anyway and it should be possible to check for that.

    I feel like the best option to get the monitor network connected is still a secondary device and never using the built in firmware (and first checking if said device got things like you described).

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