Sidewalk is (to my knowledge) only used by Amazon devices.

My point was more that Amazon advertised a system where if you didn't have internet, don't worry, you can use a neighbours. The current system is all opt in. The issue is that these major companies have never minded hiding other technology or its uses from the end user. We believe we can just block the device from the internet, but it is entirely possible that some of the TV's of today have similar systems to sidewalk (or even just cell connectivity) built right in.

Let's not forget when Google nest security systems sold in 2017 received an OTA update (in 2019) to be able to use voice commands (oops, did we not mention there were microphones in the device you bought?)

I'm not saying everyone needs to slap a tinfoil hat on. I'm just saying that while I also block these devices from the internet, it really feels like any day now things will become more difficult than that (possibly in devices we already own)

Whether they're online or not, if they're preloaded with crapware they're preloaded with crapware, and they're still technically "smart". If you're trying to avoid dealing with those smart UIs, then they're still a problem.

a regular tv, none smart. That just displays images via a hdmi