LG TVs Collect Data and Users Are Unplugging Them
17 posts across 7 communities in the last 60 days; 29% from r/selfhosted.
“Yes, this is the correct thought process. Nobody will make an alternative OS for a modern smart TV. Check out places like /r/commercialav or if you can't get IP working, IR emitters and electrical tape and global cache IP2IR is always an option. Or rs232 ports if they're active…”
“Smart TVs aee literal spyware. ACR is a feature that they have that sends screenshots of your TV to the company. Even users can't take screenshots! It's good to use a mini PC and a TV that is not connected to the internet instead.”
“Just to clarify - my LG TV is old (10 or maybe 11?), pre-OLED, and webOS on it was version 3.0. Maybe situation has improved with newer models, I don't know. The problem with TVs, is that they really work for a long time just fine and I see no reason to change it ahead of other…”
Users express deep concern about LG TVs collecting data, potentially sharing it without consent, and exhibiting questionable security practices. Many are disconnecting or avoiding smart TV functionality entirely due to privacy fears and a lack of accountability from manufacturers.
SOURCES (40)
“Yes, this is the correct thought process. Nobody will make an alternative OS for a modern smart TV. Check out places like /r/commercialav or if you can't get IP working, IR emitters and electrical tape and global cache IP2IR is always an option. Or rs232…”
“I mean even on hotel TV's if they have android tv/google tv you could easily sideload smart tube and then uninstall”
“It launches the app on your TV. Your TV still knows what apps are running on it. Also there's been recent findings that most TVs and streaming boxes are using image detection to see what you're watching. The only way to improve privacy is to opt out of it all, or disconnect it from the internet. RTings just put a video on YouTube about it recently, check it out”
“TV companies are taking a loss on their TVs to give you ads. There's no way anyone would be okay with that. Then of course streaming sticks are not much if any better. You're just trading one company's "we won't do anything with your data, we promise" for another's. Maybe Apple is slightly better, but that's debatable. Your choices are realistically, Give up, and understand your data isn't private and hasn't been for a long time Block your TV from access”
“For this use case, I am using the Google TV Streamer 4K. My TV itself is not connected to my network. I'm not sure if Google is better than other TV companies in terms of privacy. However, I assume that they know how to develop and maintain software. The biggest plus is that it's based on Android, so you get a lot of apps that work for various purposes. There are alternative apps that should also work with sideloading, but I am not using them.”
“Hi, we all put a lot of effort in to protect our data (selfhosted, grapheneos, VPN...), but somehow I was very dumb and had a blindspot for SmartTVs. After the last LG scandal, I removed every connection from my LG-TV. What I am searching now is just an easy setup for watching Jellyfin, Youtube (I mean some privacy focused apps for youtube) and the German ARD/ZDF Mediathek. I dont watch any other streaming service and I just use the speaker of my TV - so I dont need super fancy audio (good quali”
“I'm no lawyer, but afaik so-called "shrink-wrap" licence agreements, where vendor would like people to believe you've agreed by buying & using the product, are null & void legally speaking. Primarily because there's no way to say "no" before unboxing the product.It's okay to ASK for permissions afterwards, if user can decline. But if such permissions are required to use the device normally, then the proper course of action is decline, if product then fails to do its job, take it back to store as”
“I wouldn't even do that - I'd limit the DHCP scope and then set a static IP outside of that scope. If OPs DHCP is 100-150, set a static on 10-99.”
“In case anyone missed it. Personally I won’t ever trust this company again and I’m glad I bet on the Home Assistant ‘horse’ and not the other popular choice in my country: Homey. Unfortunately I do own a G5 OLED, but hav…”
“I'd suggest not connecting tv to the internet and getting a mini pc something like n100 so consumption is super low. Use that for all your needs. Maybe also can run a few services on it like immich, jellyfin, Vaultwarden, etc. You'll have to deal with a keyboard additionally to remote control. But that comes in with adless YouTube (ublock), adless music (also ublock), and additional capabilities. I have heard UGREEN sells some sort of a hdmi-CEC adapter for PCs that have no CEC so maybe”
“We are on the same side, I'm just stating what LG falls back on. "The user agreed that we could spy on them for 'optimizing their experience' so we did". It's on the same lines as Sony's bull shit with "no user would ever think they owned a digital game they paid for." It's all garbage”
“Hiya good people! Given the recent rash of issues with monitors/TVs being shadier than usual, I’ve been looking into just using a micro PC of some kind instead of ever connecting my smart TV to my network. (It’s already segmented, I’ve decided that is not enough). What devices/setups are y’all using in the era of post-Ai pricing? Anything with support for using a universal remote? Thanks! submitted by /u/Zelgoot [link] [comments]”
“Wow two amazing replies within seconds! But this is the part that gets me. It's manipulation. That's not an accusation, that's a plain, unbiased description of what it is: you don't want something, then you see an ad, then you do.Also taking this moment to head off two common responses, for ettiquette's sake:1. The alternative is catalogs! Products are listed accurately and thoroughly, and we deal with edge cases as needed. This is especially tractable in the internet age, of course. See: [the W”
“Is there a better answer (or brand) for the privacy-concerned user who is also a normie?I don’t really watch tv, but my wife would want something somewhat modern.”
Yikes. Glad I don’t own an LG TV :wink:
“Yes they do. Sounds like you are speaking from a place of ignorance and clearly have not even spent 1 second investigating it. Trying to state that they do not as a fact is absolute nonsense.”
“Just read this article that says out TVs and IPs are being used as a proxy. Thats freaking crazy!! I usually never expose my services to the internet and just realised that this proxy can be a way all my self hosted instances can be exposed to the internet. How do we navigate this? Have a dedicated vlan for the TV? But I like using my jellyfin on my TV! The world is going to shit. And its scary and disappointing. Link: https://spur.us/blog/smart-tv-apps-residential-proxy-sdks Link 2: https://peo”
“The right could have told you that already, The chilling part though is it seems everything is ok, except if advertisers dont' like it, or your Federal goverment doesn't like it. Is 2600 Quarterly still published? how long until Archive.org starts having to redact unfavorable website history?”
“Smart TVs aee literal spyware. ACR is a feature that they have that sends screenshots of your TV to the company. Even users can't take screenshots! It's good to use a mini PC and a TV that is not connected to the internet instead.”
“Most other brand does not do what LG did. Not Samsung, Dell, etc. They do have manager installation but it's usually optional thing But anyway, what LG did is that it sent the update/auto-installation through Windows Update. It's not that new of a feature but Microsoft was indeed pushing for more standardized update process which means more updates going through Windows Update. Therefore, it should be prevented on your orgs if you setup WSUS. It will add burden on your side though to mai”
“I don’t disagree but wasn’t it also the case that the OS ran by LG TVs (including those that might be in meeting rooms) was phoning back home with analytic data including the names of files on any connected storage so there was an element of ‘just being online’ with the other side of this story. Edit reported in 2023 it seems https://doctorbeet.blogspot.com/2013/11/lg-smart-tvs-logging-usb-filenames-and.html?m=1”
“Just to clarify - my LG TV is old (10 or maybe 11?), pre-OLED, and webOS on it was version 3.0. Maybe situation has improved with newer models, I don't know. The problem with TVs, is that they really work for a long time just fine and I see no reason to change it ahead of other more needed upgrades. It doesn't fall to the ground like phones, there is no degrading battery or degrading rubber/textile parts, TVs are really robust. So it would have been nice if the software for such long living hard”
“I love that my TCL tv has a physical switch for the microphone and can be setup as a dumb tv.”
“And that's why I have WU turned off. Jesus christ why does everything have to be so shit.”
“I would trust Samsung even less though. They come preloaded with garage right up front t”
“I've almost gone the other way (and I'm retired now anyway) and I just ensure that nothing I do is of much interest to anyone like that. My money is spread around and well protected but other than that I have a fairly large attack surface but nothing worth attacking!”
“It'll also be less than the money they made off of doing it in the first place. Whole thing is a freaking joke. Our consumer protections are an absolute joke. Not only is there zero incentive for companies to stop this kind of crap, but there's incentive for them to continue in that even if they get caught they make more money off of doing it than not. Unless we can somehow get a consumer protection arm of the government with real teeth, that will actually eviscerate companies and crimin”
“Search for “professional” / “commercial” / “digital signage” displays. Often the same panels as a lot of consumer TVs but without any smarts.”
“I remember reading somewhere that some LG tv’s may silently connect to open WiFi networks if it finds them to get an internet connection and upload its cache of data it’s been collecting. I’ll have to see if I can dig out the article”
“Great work Gamers Nexus. You really don't want to get on Steve's radar with any bad business practice because he absolutely will go after you with evidence in hand. Can you imagine telling visitors that the TV in the corner is likely recording everything and them not leaving is admission and absolution of LG in any wiretapping case? Get out of here.”