Soldier of FORTRAN ​1d ago
Catalin Cimpanu

Security researchers have accused Israeli company Bright Data of turning smart TVs into AI web scraping proxy nodes without their owners specific consent

https://blog.includesecurity.com/2026/06/the-smart-tv-in-your-livingroom-is-a-node-in-the-aiscraping-economy/

The Smart TV in Your LivingRoom Is a Node in the AIScraping Economy - Include Security Research Blog

In this post we look under the hood of BrightData's SDK and how it turns ordinary consumer TVs into exit nodes of an enormous commercial, residential proxy network leveraged by the AI industry to scrape web data and train language learning models.

Include Security Research Blog
Jun 7 at 1:20pmWeb
Show thread🍁voilà-DCKIM🍁1d ago

@campuscodi this is amazing. Just think, an Israeli company using your device to do all sorts of work, or your connections, using your IP.

Faking IPs is so passé.

Show threaddxzdb1d ago

@dckim @campuscodi Ooof makes me want to install a kill switch.
Just finished reading this book about another creepy Israeli company! 🫣😱 NSO group - The book certainly shook my trust in iPhones - although I'm sure Apple is working hard to stay ahead of stuff like this.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/pegasus-how-a-spy-in-your-pocket-threatens-the-end-of-privacy-dignity-and-democracy-laurent-richard/6d1f23858d909727?ean=9781250858672&next=t

Show thread🍁voilà-DCKIM🍁1d ago

@dxzdb @campuscodi this is just speculation but, who did they sell that tech to? The Italian government? Or was the to the Italian Mafia?

... and other questionable places...

plus and they have/use it

brutal

Show threaddxzdb1d ago

@dckim @campuscodi NSO? Libya, Morocco, Mexico, Saudi Arabia… I don't remember Italy mentioned at all in the book.

The book made it seem that NSO doesn't exist anymore. but reading this seems like it's still operating (as a US company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group

NSO Group - Wikipedia

Show thread🍁voilà-DCKIM🍁1d ago
@dxzdb @campuscodi right you are! I was thinking of Paragon.
Show threadMichael Horowitz1d ago
@campuscodi one takeaway is how easy it seems for an app to bypass a vpn on iOS. Mullvad has complained about iOS VPNs also.
Show threadRairii   1d ago
@campuscodi the "legal" residential proxy providers are all PUP peddlers anyway, so it's really not surprising
Show threadMoses Izumi1d ago
@Rairii @campuscodi
the term "Potentially Unwanted Program" implies that someone would actively want to use crap like Ask Toolbar.

[I suppose those kinda toolbars might've been worthwhile before Firefox and IE7 added search engines next to the address bar]
Show threadSharkfie 1d ago
@Rairii @campuscodi now now, some of them also use botnets
Show threadMartin Rundkvist1d ago
@campuscodi
Not my smart TV, no. Because it's rarely plugged into the power grid.
Show thread0px auto1d ago
@campuscodi So not only shady VPNs and routed Android boxes but also TVs huh… *smh*
Show threadGuillotine Jones, Flâneur1d ago
@campuscodi
And this is why I'm still using my aging but not-smart TV to this day.
Show threaditgrrl 1d ago
@campuscodi the phrases “legal supply side” and “user consent” are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that article 😕
 
 
but thx for sharing, have added a few new domains to my network blocklists