I have about 400% more trust of Microsoft and Sony than I do of random smart tv manufacturers. I also have a fairly high degree of confidence that the xbox one and PS4 software will remain up to date with security patches, and address critical issues quickly. I have no confidence for TVs.
Microsoft and Sony have teams of lawyers who've drafted the data collection/data sharing/opt-out policies for what their current generation game consoles track and phone home about. I've seen entirely too many reports of "smart" TVs that start reporting your entire viewing habits, and/or displaying unwanted ads.
Use the TV as a dumb display and hook it up to a PS4, Xbox One, and/or home theatre PC.
It should be noted Sony's TVs are different than their game consoles in what they collect and do. They run a relatively clean version of Android TV except for "Samba TV", which is yet another piece of show-recognizing (known as ACR) analytics. However, you can apparently decline its privacy policy on initial setup and even disable the APK entirely in settings[1]. (Some people also succeeded in ripping it and other bundled video apps out via ADB)
Even given all that, Sony TVs are probably still the tamest smart TVs out there.
> Don't give it your wifi key and don't put it on your LAN.
It entirely depends on manufacturer but I've heard of some actually seeking out open networks for internet access if you don't configure their Wi-Fi. Some people reported an unconnected TV suddenly prompted to update because the neighbour's wifi was unsecured. If you can, I'd set up a specific SSID with no LAN or WAN access just in case.
[1] https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/how-to-turn-off-smar...
They probably will use 5G cellphone service eventually...
The article seems to say Vizio TVs are better for your privacy than other TVs. The article says Vizio TVs describe ARC in 100 words and people must select accept or decline.
That page you linked to says
>However, you can accept or decline Sony's Bravia privacy policy, as well as one for Samba TV, the ACR technology Sony uses. You have to scroll through the entire Bravia policy before you'll see the options for turning off various data-gathering features, including Sony Smart TV Services, Program Recommendations, Product Improvements, and Advertisements, as well as Samba TV.
This sounds like a harder process.
Vizio was the only company willing to have an employee be interviewed by The Washington Post. Samba didn't even reply to their emails.
I can't wait until my microwave tells the manufacturer how often I'm reheating my pizza.
In terms of undermining user ownership, MS has done more than most with help from Apple. I can get a different webmail provider and use a different search engine. Changing operating systems to Linux from one that actively fights you to run your computer for you is something else entirely.
Good luck getting a software update for a four-year-old smart TV running some obsolete version of Android. Or WebOS.
Xbox 360s are 12+ years old now and are still generally considered something that is safe to have on your home network, and not vulnerable to any known in the wild remote code execution.
Xbox one or PlayStation 4 has considerably lower chances of becoming a malicious, virus-infected device on my home network.
This is a really weak trust based argument. Sony put rootkits on cds (different division of sony, but still). MS has been fighting their users forever now. Ultimately, none of these trust based arguments work. If you care about privacy, use kodi, new pipe etc. Don't try to pick overlords. That's a losing battle.
It's consistently the top blocked client on my home network! Ott. Nielsenccdata.tv
which are almost certainly also tracking everything.
In general i agree with your advice, and would rather keep smart TVs off my network. but if your goal is to not be tracked, plugging in an additional piece of hardware from another big tech co isn't going to accomplish that goal.
My Marantz is connected to Internet though (used for AirPlay) as it needs updates to its firmware, so there might be some audiophile listening...
Stop trusting companies. That's what got us in today's horror show of privacy invasion. Verify what you get and buy accordingly. Trust in corporations is something that's not required and is actively detrimental to society as a whole.
And those TV boxes are 2-way obligate devices...
I’ve seen that behavior only on the one model that I was analyzing. Still, I assume it’s industry wide and even applicable to every/any IOT device.
Those lawyers are looking out for MS and Sony, not you. Their job is to make sure everything is legal, not ethical.
Even assuming the underlying premise is something like "we suspect this is pirated and here's a legitimate option", you're suggesting I leave a task I'm in the middle of... to perform the same task elsewhere?
I could see if they had the set turn on to a Wii-style menu and they had a box that said "Since you enjoyed watching Show XYZ, you may enjoy Service EFG, featuring XYZ and more", that could possibly convert, but the timing there is completely tone-deaf.
Xbox One X has excellent power efficiency, it is my preferred way to gaming as I'm extremely conscious about the power consumption of my devices; but Smart TVs do consume lesser power for what they do.
Also, fun fact, my cable boxes from Verizon also run Linux :P
I recently upgraded to a LG 4K OLED TV. It's an absolutely gorgeous TV, but, I absolutely lament the "smart" features of this TV. I get software update prompts on a regular basis for software I don't use (I'm sure there would be some for the base system anyway, but, an order of magnitude less). The prompts when setting up the TV to accept myriad EULAs are obnoxious. Pop-ups advertising "features" on my TV which I don't want? Ugh.
I really want either a manufacturer who resells these panels with 0 features, or a mode from LG which disables all of this. "Lock to HDMI1 and disable everything but color management features".
More on-topic with the article: I'm a pretty tech and legally-savvy guy, but, even I'm not sure I've toggled the correct order of knobs and declined the correct EULAs to disable that tracking. Moreover, I'm exactly 0% sure that someone else didn't try to watch Netflix (via the TV and not the AppleTV/Shield/PS4/etc) and wasn't prompted to accept EULAs to do that. My point is, if I can't even do this properly, normal people have a near 0% chance of disabling tracking.
That said, it's a fantastically gorgeous panel. I've had a lot of fun re-watching older favorite movies in 4K.
Also, for that massive premium, commercial displays often don't include HDR, HDMI features (CEC, ARC), and sometimes even 4k. They aren't a realistic solution.
I never connected it to my network and never will.
It was a dark pattern during setup. The options were to connect via LAN or WIFI, and only by scrolling into "nothing" did a skip option appear.
I get very few notifications. Obviously, when app or firmware updates are available. I also get a small and brief notification when they add a new ip channel to their lineup. I get no ads or anything like that.
I've not run a sniffer to see what it phones home with beyond info for version checks.
The other point is that all these features are advertised on the box (Netflix, Alexa integration, etc) but you can't even use them unless you accept those EULA prompts.
I got my current TV off the side of the road. It’s a 42” LCD Samsung, and that’s good enough for me.
It was the LG 65UH series from Costco.
> block it on my home network with Pi-Hole
That's a really good idea. I just configured my firewall (Palo Alto) to block the TV, I'm not sure why I didn't think of that.
In the UK, if my shield would show freeview TV channels I'd probably never need to leave the interface, and thus I'd be happy to lock a TV into a shield slave.
Unfortunately it just doesn't work like that for us over here though.
I’m using the shield exclusively for smart features and the OLED as a dumb display.
I connected it to the network in order to watch netflix, and unchecked all tracking and advertising related EULAs. I'm also running a pihole on my network, so most third party ads will be denied from reaching the TV.
https://www.pcwrt.com/2018/08/how-to-use-your-router-to-bloc...
The amount of mostly unintentional (by the user) data transfers is out of hand.
If your corporate site, where you advertise your new high-end TVs and laptops, starts triggering warnings in all your visitors' browsers that it might be associated with malware and falling off all the SERPs for similar reasons, you're going to stop loading it with junk pretty quickly (and its trust score will improve pretty quickly as a direct result). Likewise, if your smart device tries to phone home and home has acquired negative rep, maybe that connection gets blocked automatically at the firewall.
We'd need a system that was guided by interested/aware participants who are unlikely to be successfully gamed and that mostly "just worked" for average users, but we've managed to build those in other contexts before so it doesn't seem completely out of the question.
What would be great and much easier technically would be an (open, non-google) Chromecast clone that you can plug into a smart TV and then just not give the smart TV an internet connection.
Walmart represents a store that is easy to go to for much of the US population. That means a good percentage of people in the US are buying TVs at places that don't offer non-smart TVs for sale.
Occasionally the out-of-the-box firmware on TVs can perform poorly on certain input modes, so it's nice to have an option to get the latest patches without opening yourself up to tracking and ads.
That said, the idea of a TV needing patches is thoroughly unappealing.
cellular connection is still prohibitively expensive in many parts of the world.
https://gist.github.com/peteryates/b44b70d19ccd52f62d66cdd4b...
More likely just looking at the title of the file and matching that against themoviedb.
Examples:
https://wiki.samygo.tv/index.php?title=Main_Page
https://forum.xda-developers.com/web-os/general/rooting-webo...
Just don't buy smart TVs. Buy a dumb TV, attach a RaspberryPi or an Intel NUC, install Kodi and enjoy.
Too lazy? Shameless self promotion: https://windscribe.com/features/robert
And despite GE becoming a Chinese brand, they seem to have regained a reputation for reliability somewhat, based on the reviews I read.
My parents had a TV with a built-in Skype app, and at some point the TV maker stopped supporting it. After that, every single time the TV was turned on the TV popped up a vague modal error message (that didn’t even mention Skype, just “an app” or something). I verified that it is impossible to turn off this message or do anything about it. Think about the stupidity.
For example, my Samsung has apps that can stream radio, and apps for Spotify and other music services.
But it evidently failed to occur to anyone at Samsung that since these are audio apps and do not need to use the screen while playing, I might want to blank the screen once I start the stream.
I'm particularly irked at Samsung because when I searched online to see how to blank the screen (I assumed it was obvious that they would include such a feature, and I was just being dimwitted when it came to finding it), I found that they used to have that feature, and they dropped it starting with the model year of my TV!
Their reaction to a proposal was, to put it kindly, terrifying and highly defensive. They said they are doing nothing wrong, no data has been leaked snd that there is no future for our solution, sensing huge discomfort.
Quite evident they have zero interest to gamble status quo on current situation.
This should not suffer from the same issue: http://archive.is/8Cm3Q
And I don't see it coming. Older people don't even seem to care that Imo is secretly recording them as longs as they can videochat with their grandchildren. Younger people are just happy for their new shiny toys.
Menu > Smart Hub > Terms and Conditions
Inside there will be several terms of these tracking companies. Go inside each and all of them and check the box:
I don't agree with these terms
Have not tested network wise if the tracking persists, but in theory, removing consent should mean they can't collect it.
Even if you are prepared to exercise your rights under GDPR in my experience the usual modus operandi is asking for more data via various registration forms and accounts or sending copies of personal IDs. Then if you manage to hand in a Data Request or Deletion Request there is no way to find out whether they really complied or not, making it pointless.
And since Apple TV sort of means 5 to 6 different things [1], they might as well make an actual Apple TV set to make it even more complicated.
If there are two things that I think Apple should really do, are Wireless Router and TV. I dont want a Google Nest WiFi or Amazon Eero.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the way we prevent this is in right to repair legislation that includes the right to root.
I realised after spending working hours in front of Monitor/Laptop, my eyes can use some rest. So NO TV in weekdays.
I have bought 30 inch monitor, connected to home desktop and use it for entertainment - Netflix, sports etc.
NO TV is an option. Some day going to upgrade to bigger monitor.
More seriously, our privacy has been nullified by ferocious marketing and advertising tactics. Data collection has weaved its way into the design of most of the products we use, it was only a matter of time.
I know you can opt out of all of the collection on a Samsung. Just have to not agree to all of the Terms and Services. That being said, I've heavily isolated the Samsung in the house. It sits on its own VLAN that cant talk to anything else on the lan and use some heavy white/blacklisting at the DNS level to limit what it can get to on the internet. I'm sure it's still uploading something about me to somewhere though.
I personally use a Chromecast for my smart TV needs, which of course Google knows everything about. But the chromecast can't see anything else I do, no broadcast TV or if I use the DLNA function.
I wonder when right holders demand those information to sue people who watch "illegal" content on their TVs.
https://www.datainnovation.org/2019/01/national-survey-finds...
Could you imagine if your smartphone screen or your computer monitor did this? I think samsung makes the iphone screens. What if they randomly sent screenshots with personal identifiers back to samsung? Who in their company possibly would possibly think this is okay?
That way, people with less technical know-how (like, say, my parents) can follow the instructions and get more privacy.
At least, I assume they can be disabled? I don't think it would fly with the GDPR otherwise?
In a past life, I actually helped bridge ad attribution for a bunch of these. Funny.