@frigidcode Whle I am not @dangillmor and don't have a "smart" LG TV, I do have "smart" Vizio TV, several Rokus, and a Pi-hole using the Smart-TV Blocklist[1] with RegEx extension[2] in addition to the Firebog Ticked lists[3] and block cloudservices.roku.com to return my Roku home screen to that of a streaming media player rather than an advertising screen.

I don't use the TV for streaming, but have it configured to do so and leave it connected by Ethernet so that I can control it from an app, cast to it, receive updates, and be ready to stream if ever I so wish. Despite this and the fact that I have it configured for as much privacy as permitted, the TV is constantly trying to connect to many external services. The Pi-hole blocks many of the connections.

While I do not know if the end points for LG's spyware are blocked by the aforementioned lists or if LG tries to circumvent local network policy by silently using its own name service or other measures, I would expect DNS filtering with suitable blocklists to be mostly - if not completely - effective against the spying... for now. The significant majority of the audience will simply connect this (and every other "smart" device) to their only wireless network and click through the initial setup process as quickly and carelessly as needed to get to the streaming.

See also Sharon Harding's recent article, "Your TV set has become a digital billboard. And it’s only getting worse"[4].

[1] https://perflyst.github.io/PiHoleBlocklist/SmartTV.txt
[2] https://perflyst.github.io/PiHoleBlocklist/regex.list
[3] https://v.firebog.net/hosts/lists.php?type=tick
[4] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/tv-industrys-ads-tracking-obsession-is-turning-your-living-room-into-a-store/

#SmartTV #Spyware #Vizio #Roku #Pihole #Perflyst #Firebog

Pi-hole users should be sure to include Perflyst lists for your "smart" devices - https://perflyst.github.io/PiHoleBlocklist/ - in addition to Firebog Ticked - https://v.firebog.net/hosts/lists.php - and other lists.

Roku users should also block cloudservices.roku.com to return their home screen to how it should appear.

#PiHole #Perflyst #Firebog #Roku

@SwiftOnSecurity You can't tell me what to do. You're not even my read dad.

If the only platform was the browser on an inhospitable network and you could only afford one plugin, then uBlock Origin (@ublockorigin) has been the top choice for an age. As manifest version two is replaced by three, uBlock Origin Lite may be able to hold that place.
Now is the second best time to test switching from uBlock Origin to uBlock Origin Lite, noting that its settings are quite different, with several levels of operation and some add-on choices.

On my network, layers currently include:
• Quad9 (@quad9dns) .11 (Secured with ECS: Malware blocking, DNSSEC Validation) upstream of
• Pi-hole with Firebog Ticked, Perflyst for streaming media, and a few other lists, and
• Privacy Badger (@privacybadger) from EFF (@eff) and uBlock Origin Lite (Optimal) on full-feature web browsers.

Going mobile in foreign lands:
• Proton (@protonprivacy) VPN with NetShield (i.e. filtered DNS) and
• Mozilla (@mozilla) Firefox Focus default browser with all Enhanced Tracking Protections on.

The tricky part is maintaining the configuration of each of the full-feature web browsers on each platform to balance privacy, security and function - not least given how setting sometimes magically change after an update. Choice of search provider alone is a major factor. Currently, I prefer @StartpageSearch

Managing trust of privileged software managed by and distributed automatically from proprietary stores is whole other matter.

#uBlockOrigin #Quad9 #PiHole #Firebog #Perflyst #PrivacyBadger #Firefox #FirefoxFocus #Startpage