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Just as the 's' in 'IoT' stands for 'security', the 'f' in 'IoT' stands for 'fairness to users.' Never buy a consumer product that expects an Internet connecti
by bleepblorp 6y ago
Just as the 's' in 'IoT' stands for 'security', the 'f' in 'IoT' stands for 'fairness to users.'
Never buy a consumer product that expects an Internet connection.
- Shivetya 6y agoWell that does get very difficult with TV since a large number of people stream, the app on my LG is actually better than my Apple TV but it is toss up with the Roku on the other TV. So I am going to say, for the technically inclined its time to chase down your router firewall logs and find where the TV is going to for ads and block the IP or port range. Would be curious what the TV does, properly engineered it should just act as if its not connected at all.
- nonninz 6y agoI have also a LG TV, and I used to keep it disconnected at all times as all my streaming comes from the nVidia Shield anyway. However recently I wanted to setup my home automation system to automatically turn the TV off when I go to bed or outside, and for that I needed to connect it to the home network. I solved this by confguring the router firewall to drop any package from the TV to the internet. It works!
- bleepblorp 6y agoIt's just a matter of time until Smart TVs deactivate themselves if they can't connect to their telemetry and ad servers -- or the manufacturers enter into agreements with streaming services to proxy ads through the same IPs used to stream video. This would not be without precedent. Some Samsung TVs already refuse to exit setup mode if they can't connect to the Internet after initial power-on to geo-lookup their IP to make sure that they're being used in the country they're sold for. The best solution for streaming is a low-end PC with hardware video decoding and the ability to run Ublock Origin. . . . Edit: I see from other comments that Samsung TVs already go into degraded functionality mode if they can't connect to their ad servers, and already serve some ads from endpoints used for necessary functionality.
- mongol 6y agoWhat gets lost in degraded mode?
- vetinari 6y agoAnything that requires Internet connection (i.e. Youtube, including casting from mobile device). I just found out this weekend; with an older, cca 2013-ish samsung tv, connected to a network that has OpenWRT router with Adblock, and forced redirect of all port 53, 853 traffic to the local resolver. It cannot resolve its mothership (the rules were already in the Adblock list, I didn't add anything). The TV shows up a messagebox that it cannot to the Internet and asking the user to check the connection. The local DLNA sources work.
- Steko 6y agoWE NOTICED YOU'VE BLOCKED OUR AD SERVER - covers entire screen
- mcv 6y agoI haven't seen any of this behaviour on my Samsung TV yet, but I'm going to pay more attention to it now. And definitely avoid Samsung in the future.
- KozmoNau7 6y ago
- Gravityloss 6y agoOne could use a separate box for all the smarts. Integration brings unneeded obsolescence and reduces choice and control. May be hard to avoid in space constrained phones but should not be needed on tvs.
- matt-attack 6y agoI’m shocked to hear you say that the smart TVs ui is better than an AppleTV. Would love to know more.
- sschueller 6y agoI had to blacklist my wifi controlled air purifier on my router as it was sending data every few seconds to Amazon's DCs. If they want to collect air quality stats from my location they should pay me for that data.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y agoI'm guessing that in addition to them pushing their data stats to AWS they don't make that data available to you for free or indefinitely? (kinda like how Nest only lets you see 10 days' worth of thermostat data via their own service with absolutely no option or ability to download a CSV of all data since day 1 even though they have that data in a SpannerDB somewhere in a Google datacenter)
- sdfqasdghj 6y agoIt is not the company's data. It is the users' data.
- texasbigdata 6y agoSo you’re positive after 7 days it all gets purged?
- tadzik_ 6y ago> If they want to collect air quality stats from my location they should pay me for that data From their perspective, they probably gave you a discount for your data. See also https://www.businessinsider.com/smart-tv-data-collection-advertising-2019-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/smart-tv-data-collection-adv...
- reallydontask 6y agoit's an interesting point you make, but perhaps companies should make these trade offs transparent. You can get the version that phones home or you can pay extra for the version that doesn't. I suppose the problem is that they'd make this transparent and there would likely be a bit of backlash ... thank goodness that regulatory agencies have our best interests at heart /s
- izacus 6y ago> Never buy a consumer product that expects an Internet connection. This is a nice trite trope, but getting an affordable TV without these features might be nearly impossible for most people these days.
- vanderZwan 6y agoHow ridiculous is it that it's harder to get a product without extra nonsense added?
- MaxikCZ 6y agoThat extra nonsense is generating revenue to the manufacturer of the product
- contravariant 6y agoAt this point we might as well cut out the middleman and pay people to connect a black box to all their devices.
- tzs 6y agoIn the case of TVs I think it also has to do with there being no real hardware difference between a fancy Smart TV and a dumb TV. A dumb TV nowadays is going to be implemented as essentially a computer and monitor running a set of TV applications, just like a Smart TV. The only difference will be that fewer programs will be loaded onto the dumb TV.
- MaxBarraclough 6y agoTrue, but even if you're paying for a network-capable device, you still have the option of not plugging it in.
- mulmen 6y agoDo you? Manufacturers can easily require an Internet connection to make the device work. They can also include their own radios and modems. All in the name of being user friendly!
- save_ferris 6y agoIt's impossible to find a new TV these days that doesn't have an internet connection out of the box.
- RandomBacon 6y agoSceptre 4K dumb TVs
- aembleton 6y agoArgos have 14 different ones for sale, largest being 43" https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/technology/televisions-and-accessories/televisions/c:30106/smart-tv:no/ https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/technology/televisions-and-ac...
- dspillett 6y agoMy TV can connect, but is happy to live without. Though I've never used the smart features, just terrestrial digital TV, a PC over HDMI, a Pi running Kodi over HDMI, and an old DVD player via SCART. The TV doesn't enforce an interactive menu to pick those sources from, it is a simple selection on the remote, so it doesn't have anywhere to force ads. If it becomes impossible to buy a TV that doesn't just display what I chose by the time this one is due for replacement, I'll take a device sold as a computer monitor instead. Or a projector. Maybe I'll pay extra, but I'll be fine with that.
- nfoz 6y agoLG still makes them, if you carefully navigate to their Business "Commercial Lite" or digital-signage options. I love my 55" 4k dumb TV. But you might not get some high-end features like HDR.