Crossposted from https://infosec.pub/post/52518361
The TV world has been a pot of controversy thanks to a two-hour-and-15-minute video from Gamers Nexus claiming LG TVs are nefariously spying on everything you do. They can record and store audio even when they seem to be off, track everything you watch, and could even be hacked remotely and turned into covert surveillance […]
No, it doesn’t. But I guess it does for others. I don’t have it connected to any network.
That doesn’t impede these devices as mich as you think. Technologies like LoRa are a thing (although i wasn’t able to find any tv vendor publicly confirming the usage. Funnily enough, i even stumbled upon a project which uses chip harmonics in Esp32 platforms to transmit LoRa Frames without any antenna with varying results), and many just keep saving stuff (text doesn’t need much space) until they are able to connect somewhere. An open WiFi popping up for a few minutes isn’t unreasonable to expect and pretty much unpreventable.
I opened the TV and removed the wifi. Systems guy.
Ok, so you are the one in a 100k people who can confidently “repair” (i count this as a repair) their TV. This doesn’t help anyone else at all and does not eliminate any issues with these devices, unless you published how to do it somewhere in a way a novice can replicate your work, which, if you had to fiddle with the software (some of these things don’t even POST without their WiFi module, which requires software patches, and therefor rooting your TV), is a felony in the US thanks to the DMCA.
Kudos to you if you actually published the way to achieve it, in that case you took a personal risk to right a wrong - this is the stuff that Louis Rossman is looking for btw. Might be a great entry for the consumerrights wiki.
The computer isn’t that complex. You are just destroying the wifi NIC. The hardest part is opening the chassis.
Which is far more than you can expect from a common user. You make the same mistake as everyone working in tech - you vastly overestimate the capability of Joe Shmoe to do such things.
We are talking about people who are overwhelmed by configuring their email-account on Thunderbird or Outlook, who, when they are on a support call and are asked to “close all windows” stand up and shut the windows in their apartment. With the older generation you might even have to define left and right click with them. These people do not open up their TVs, either because they fear losing their warranty or know how deep their technical knowledge goes (as in “not enough to do such things without breaking stuff”).
Also, like i said, be happy that it worked. Many Smart TVs simply refuse to work if a component fails, regardless of reason.
Dude, I am not justifying the corporations actions. I am saying you could fix it.
I am not going against a lawsuit or a boycott. I am saying: it can be fixed.
I don’t see how we are at odds, as I was only bringing up a solution to your concern.
Why must text conversation be so damned tedious? I am a person, just like you.
I am continuing because you don’t seem to realize that the vast majority of the population has neither the knowledge nor the technical expertise to prevent being the target of a surveillance campaign inside their own 4 walls - or the conference room at work, or their doctors practice.
You shouldn’t have to be technically inclined to make sure that the devices that you spent a lot of money for don’t spy on you