Dan GoodinApr 29, 2024

Looks like the anti-smartTV alarmism is out in full force today on the feditubes. A reminder: connecting a smartTV to the Internet is perfectly safe as long as you take 2 minutes to follow common sense guidance:

https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/how-to-turn-off-smart-tv-snooping-features-a4840102036/

SmartTVs don't collect anymore data than Microsoft Windows, Google, Facebook, Twitter or even your credit card company.

Don't be fooled by the people trying to shame or scare you. And definitely don't get tricked into the magical thinking that streaming with a Roku is somehow safer than with a TV. It's not.

How to Turn Off Smart TV Snooping Features

TVs collect a huge amount of data. Here's how to use privacy settings to limit the surveillance on TVs from LG, Samsung, TCL, and every other big brand.

Consumer Reports
Show threadKarl Auerbach

@dangoodin Well, we do have some cautionary horror stories, such as this one from 2017 (which is referenced in the Consumer Reports article.)

"VIZIO to Pay $2.2 Million to FTC, State of New Jersey to Settle Charges It Collected Viewing Histories on 11 Million Smart Televisions without Users’ Consent"

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2017/02/vizio-pay-22-million-ftc-state-new-jersey-settle-charges-it-collected-viewing-histories-11-million

VIZIO to Pay $2.2 Million to FTC, State of New Jersey to Settle Charges It Collected Viewing Histories on 11 Million Smart Televisions without Users’ Consent

VIZIO, one of the world’s largest manufacturers and sellers of internet-connected “smart” televisions, has agreed to settle charges that it installed software on its TVs to collect viewing data on consumer TVs without consumers’ knowledge or consent.

Federal Trade Commission
Apr 29, 2024 at 4:40pmWeb
Show threadDan GoodinApr 29, 2024

@karlauerbach

True, but that was 7 years ago and those kinds of abuses are not remotely limited to smartTV makers.

Show threadKarl AuerbachApr 29, 2024

@dangoodin Yes, it was ages ago in Internet time - but it was the fact of connectivity that made Vizio's clever snooping possible.

I've spent many years in the realm of security/diagnostics/repair. In that world one comes to recognize the large amount of data that leaks from systems via side channels. (I first learned this by watching then lights on 1970's computers and listening to the noises from power supplies - I shocked some people on a visit to an NSA site when I could tell them what their computers were doing without actually accessing them.) When we travel I can tell when our house sitter is at the house by remotely looking at the settings on the thermostat.

With gaming and things like content meta-tracks the fourth wall on TVs is eroding as the audience becomes part of the content.

Just as Javascript in browsers and no-click opening of content created data leaks on MS Windows the pressure for interactive services will, I fear, create ever more opportunities for data gathering.

Show threadDan GoodinApr 29, 2024

@karlauerbach

SmartTVs have more side channels than other devices you use?

Show threadKarl AuerbachApr 29, 2024

@dangoodin I can data leak even from a dumb TV by having an app - sort of like a spy version of Shazam - on an iPhone (or jailbroken Amazon Echo) that listens to the sound and music coming from a TV and using that, much as Vizio did, to report what that TV is tuned to watch on a second by second basis.

We are moving into a world in which a device itself need not be "smart" and have data gathering. Rather we are becoming immersed in electronic devices that can be woven (hard today, probably easier in the future) together to gather data from one another using ad hoc, informal, human-oriented interfaces.