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I have a 4K Samsung Smart TV that I use as a monitor. It just doesn't get on the network. Has never been updated but it's airgapped so who cares. Of course if
by esotericn 7y ago
I have a 4K Samsung Smart TV that I use as a monitor. It just doesn't get on the network.
Has never been updated but it's airgapped so who cares.
Of course if it gets on some open WiFi or has a sim card in it I'm knackered. Doh. Should probably crack it open and remove the antenna.
- RandomBacon 7y agoUnless you read the code and flashed the TV yourself, you have no idea if it periodically checks for unsecured wifi networks to connect to. So yes, I would remove the antenna. Someone somewhere probably thought, "Hey, let's help out our customers that may be too lazy or not smart enough to figure out how to connect, and do it automatically for them!"
- saagarjha 7y agoSurreptitiously connecting to a network that you don’t own or have permission to use seems like it would fall afoul of the CFAA.
- ryacko 7y agoRadio piracy isn’t actually a vulnerability though.
- saagarjha 7y agoI don't think that matters. The Act has verbiage along the lines of accessing a computer without authorization, which is what you're doing by hopping on the network.
- esotericn 7y agoExfiltrating surveillance data probably falls foul of some law as well, that's not the point. People who remove antennae from their devices are doing so because the law is cold comfort after the fact. This is like telling a farmer they don't need guns because 911 will be there quickly enough. Nope. It also seems unlikely that connecting to an unsecured access point can be said to be "unauthorized access". That would make like, free wifi essentially anywhere (hotels, fast food places, airports, coffee shops, libraries) illegal to access unless you like, asked someone first. It's in direct contrast with how probably 99% of people use WiFi.
- saagarjha 7y agoYou agree to terms before connecting to free Wi-Fi.
- esotericn 7y agoEr, no you don't? You don't even know what the terms are. Maybe you're talking about captive portals. Not all free wifi even has terms.
- saagarjha 7y agoWell then you're violating the CFAA. You're a horrible person who deserves to go to jail for what you did. (I never said I agreed with the how the CFAA is written…)
- liability 7y agoUninformed consent makes a mockery of the very concept of consent. Anybody suggesting otherwise should be ashamed with themselves.
- saagarjha 7y agoYou must be talking about someone else, then, since I'm certainly not suggesting otherwise.
- RandomBacon 7y agoThat doesn't mean that the person who makes that decision knows about the law or even cares. Laws don't stop crimes, they just allow crimes to be prosecuted. (Otherwise there would be no more murders, drunk drivers, etc.)
- dylan604 7y agoThe antenna isn't the part to be concerned with, it's the microphone that makes me hate the smart TV. Besides, if you watch network television, you'll be amazed at how much better the picture looks from the over-the-air broadcast compared to the atrociously compressed version your cable provider gives you. Edit: just realized you meant the wifi antenna.
- esotericn 7y agoYeah, the wifi antenna. I don't watch TV. It was just less than half the price of an equivalent monitor at the time.
- pilsetnieks 7y agoThere are TVs without microphones. For example, Sony TVs have a microphone in the touchpad remote but not in the TV itself or in the standard remote. If you don't want to be listened to, just remove the batteries from the touchpad remote (if it even comes with your TV - some only have the one standard remote.)