Not putting your WiFi password in would absolutely be reliable. I’d love to hear your ideas on how they’d remotely break into your WiFi Network
Comment on Smart TVs take snapshots of what you watch multiple times per second
mox@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
Friendly reminder that gaming console monitors, computer monitors, projectors, dumb TVs, and commercial displays exist.
Yes, I could hack a smart TV to disable its networking capabilities. (Merely withholding my wifi password is not reliable.) But that would still be showing the manufacturers that I find spyware TVs acceptable, and supporting the production of those models.
Also, this would be a good time to pressure our legislators into criminalizing this nonsense.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 1 day ago
4am@lemm.ee 1 day ago
Remember how Comcast routers made that ghost mesh network?
linearchaos@lemmy.world 1 day ago
And Amazon sidewalk.
umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Any link to news? This is my first time heard of this.
MutilationWave@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I don’t have a link but Comcast offered a get WiFi anywhere option for their customers where they could use anyone’s combination modem/router from Comcast to get online with their company credentials. This was (is?) impossible to disable.
unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Sounds standard for Comcast or whoever they are now. Couldn’t find anything though. Curious
mox@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
Not putting your WiFi password in would absolutely be reliable.
No, it would not.
I’d love to hear your ideas on how they’d remotely break into your WiFi Network
They wouldn’t, of course.
However, your network is not the only network in the world, and WiFi is not the only transport in the world. Neighbors exists. Open guest networks exist. Drive-by and fly-by networks exist. Mesh networks exist. Bluetooth, LoRa, cellular, etc. etc. etc. Maybe you live on an isolated mountain top where these things are unlikely to reach you (at least until satellite network links become smaller and cheaper), but even that is not absolute, and most of us don’t.
Unless you disassemble your TV and examine all the components within, and know what they do, it could have any of these capabilities. Given how prevalent multi-network support is becoming in electronics integration, it is not unusual at all for hardware functionality to be dormant at first but available for activation later.
I’d love for you not to be adversarial.
Gestrid@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
To add to this, often, even if you turn off Bluetooth, your devices can still communicate via Bluetooth Low Energy, something that’s separate from classic Bluetooth and typically (to my knowledge) cannot be turned off. As an example, I’ve heard that Google uses it to send ad targeting info between devices.
zorblitz@lemm.ee 1 day ago
If you have a samsung phone in the house, it can connect to the TV and give it a hotspot of sorts. This is a hypothetical, not real (yet!)
almar_quigley@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Why is withholding the WiFi password not enough? Could they somehow piggyback off a different device or something?
tmcgh@lemm.ee 1 day ago
I’ve heard that some of them will connect to any wifi available. So if your neighbor does not have a password on their network. The tv will connect and upload the data.
herrvogel@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yes. It could talk to another smart device and ask it to send its packages. You could be careful and connect none of the smart crap in your house to your network, but the smart fridge in your upstairs neighbor’s kitchen could still be helping with smuggling your data out. Or your devices could be connected to some unsecured network around.
In any case, the only surefire way to stop your data from getting smuggled out is to physically kill all the wireless connectivity capabilities of the device. Disconnect antennae, desolder chips, scrape out pcb traces. Otherwise you’re just hoping the firmware is not doing anything funny. Fortunately I think these are all hypotheticals that have not (yet) been observed in real smart home products.
xavier666@lemm.ee 1 day ago
but the smart fridge in your upstairs neighbor’s kitchen could still be helping with smuggling your data out I can understand that if you have a Samsung TV and a Samsung fridge, they can talk with each other. But will it work if you have a fridge from a different OEM? (I’m assuming the OEMs haven’t formed a cartel for illegal data smuggling)
mox@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
Good question. Please see my follow-up comment.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Only one company makes Dumb TVs anymore, Sceptre, and the quality is very hit or miss due to the way they acquire their screens.
tal@lemmy.today 1 day ago
It’s also harder to find them in larger sizes any more, even for the few for which sell them at all.
assetbasedlife.com/dumb-tvs-are-a-dying-breed/
This lists Insignia, which is a Best Buy store brand.
tomsguide.com/…/dumb-tvs-heres-why-you-cant-find-…
This has a couple, at least as of last year:
rekabis@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Plenty of companies make display TVs that only display commercial content. You see them all the time displaying menus in fast food restaurants.
These can also have all smart tech turned off because some companies also use them as digital whiteboards to display proprietary or confidential information.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Those typically come at commercial pricing, which is insane.
rekabis@lemmy.ca 22 hours ago
I would hardly consider that pricing insane. Consumer TVs are massively subsidized by the smart tech built into them, in some cases by up to 60%. Considering the more robust construction (for commercial use) and lack of subsidization, I would consider those prices to be spot-on and rather reasonable.