5 ms·

> Why is everyone so confused that smart TVs are popular? Because almost all of them use internet connectivity to show you ads on home screens.

throw03172019 5y ago
I disconnect from WiFi. It makes my “smart” tv a normal one that doesn’t serve my shitty ads, lag or turn on some random SamsungTV channel.
- savant_penguin 5y ago
  Just because you disconnected it from wifi does not mean they cannot connect it through lte without your knowledge
  - nmstoker 5y ago
    Maybe your comment was tongue in cheek but if the product did not reveal it contained a radio transmitter, this would undoubtedly be illegal in the US, EU & UK.
    - jen20 5y ago
      And what will you do when there are no TVs to buy that do not contain LTE transmitters to force more spying upon you?
      - oblio 5y ago
        Do most of them contain LTE transmitters? Is their share increasing?
        jen20 5y ago
        I don’t know, but it’s not long ago that TVs did not spy on you or serve you personalised ads, and now they all do, so it’s not exactly a huge stretch.
  - wwn_se 5y ago
    Well that's illegal in almost all (western) countries. A device need to have an declaration of all radio equipment inside in some form (depending on locale). It also would be a lot harder to profit from ads when you have to pay for lte bandwidth especially with the prices in the US.
    - zinekeller 5y ago
      (not op) > Well that's illegal in almost all (western) countries. A device need to have an declaration of all radio equipment inside in some form (depending on locale). I agree, but I'm pretty sure that it will be buried on the declarations page. > It also would be a lot harder to profit from ads when you have to pay for lte bandwidth especially with the prices in the US. You vastly overestimated the costs of wholesale network access, which is surprisingly cheap, that's why Kindles (for the most part) do have Amazon-provided SIM cards. Bad news is that you can't get it: basically you need commit to a minimum bandwidth (in hundreds of terabytes range) with a minimum subscription count (in hundreds of thousands range) to get these cheap prices, which would be more expensive than individual plans.
      - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
        Can you extract that SIM card and use for free internet?
        zinekeller 5y ago
        Depends? Amazon's SIMs are locked to the specific Kindles, so you need to clone at least the radio identification codes (like IMEI) that is used, and you need to relay that to a specific proxy operated by Amazon because the network-in-question would block (on behalf of Amazon) other servers. I imagine that in case someone has implemented this, it would be locked in a similar way to ensure that it can only access those ad servers and nothing else.
  - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
    Wrap it in tinfoil.
  - throw03172019 5y ago
    That’s true. But it does help with the blocking their ads.
  - Forbo 5y ago
    See previous discussion about this problem here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27701977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27701977 TL;DR- TVs are using their own cellular connections and/or neighboring open wireless networks.
    - gsich 5y ago
      >L;DR- TVs are using their own cellular connections The link doesn't say that.
      - rovr138 5y ago
        It links to https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/01/huawei-reportedly-plans-first-5g-8k-tv-to-one-up-samsung-and-apple/ https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/01/huawei-reportedly-plans-f... And it opens with, > Though its 5G products are not entirely welcome in the United States, Huawei is reportedly pushing forward with a unique new product: the world’s first 5G television. As Nikkei reports this morning, the Chinese company plans to use the cellular-enabled TV and new PCs to challenge Samsung’s and Apple’s dominant positions in the global consumer electronics market.
        kelnos 5y ago
        That's not really what's being talked about, though. The fear is that if you don't connect your TV to your wifi network, it will have a secret, hidden LTE radio that it uses anyway. It doesn't seem that Huawei is being at all secretive about this; they are advertising it as a feature.
        Forbo 5y ago
        You're ignoring the part where Samsung TVs are actively connecting to open networks.
        gsich 5y ago
        That's a single TV, also is this on the market, the link said "reportedly"? The other comment is also correct.
  - throwawayboise 5y ago
    I guess that's one benefit of not having a usable mobile signal at my house.
  - tshaddox 5y ago
    It's also true (by definition) that literally any device that you own could be connecting through LTE without your knowledge.
    - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
      Is LTE a synonym for free internet? Who pays for connection?
k4rli 5y ago
With LG C9 I haven't seen a single ad in a year since I've had it. There are large amounts of tracking being blocked by pi.hole however. One LG domain has been blocked 22.5k times in past 8.5 months.
- kelnos 5y ago
  The thing that would bother me about this is that you only know what's being blocked; you have no idea if other spyware is getting through because your pihole just doesn't happen to know about another domain in use. The only surefire way to block it would be to put some metal or foil around the wifi antenna (or disconnect it entirely, if possible). Otherwise the TV could connect to any random open wifi network it might find (assuming there is one in range). Even if you connect it to your own network and block all its traffic, it might just decide your network is broken and find another one.

throw03172019 5y ago

I disconnect from WiFi. It makes my “smart” tv a normal one that doesn’t serve my shitty ads, lag or turn on some random SamsungTV channel.

savant_penguin 5y ago
Just because you disconnected it from wifi does not mean they cannot connect it through lte without your knowledge
- nmstoker 5y ago
  Maybe your comment was tongue in cheek but if the product did not reveal it contained a radio transmitter, this would undoubtedly be illegal in the US, EU & UK.
  - jen20 5y ago
    And what will you do when there are no TVs to buy that do not contain LTE transmitters to force more spying upon you?
    - oblio 5y ago
      Do most of them contain LTE transmitters? Is their share increasing?
      - jen20 5y ago
        I don’t know, but it’s not long ago that TVs did not spy on you or serve you personalised ads, and now they all do, so it’s not exactly a huge stretch.
- wwn_se 5y ago
  Well that's illegal in almost all (western) countries. A device need to have an declaration of all radio equipment inside in some form (depending on locale). It also would be a lot harder to profit from ads when you have to pay for lte bandwidth especially with the prices in the US.
  - zinekeller 5y ago
    (not op) > Well that's illegal in almost all (western) countries. A device need to have an declaration of all radio equipment inside in some form (depending on locale). I agree, but I'm pretty sure that it will be buried on the declarations page. > It also would be a lot harder to profit from ads when you have to pay for lte bandwidth especially with the prices in the US. You vastly overestimated the costs of wholesale network access, which is surprisingly cheap, that's why Kindles (for the most part) do have Amazon-provided SIM cards. Bad news is that you can't get it: basically you need commit to a minimum bandwidth (in hundreds of terabytes range) with a minimum subscription count (in hundreds of thousands range) to get these cheap prices, which would be more expensive than individual plans.
    - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
      Can you extract that SIM card and use for free internet?
      - zinekeller 5y ago
        Depends? Amazon's SIMs are locked to the specific Kindles, so you need to clone at least the radio identification codes (like IMEI) that is used, and you need to relay that to a specific proxy operated by Amazon because the network-in-question would block (on behalf of Amazon) other servers. I imagine that in case someone has implemented this, it would be locked in a similar way to ensure that it can only access those ad servers and nothing else.
- GoblinSlayer 5y ago
  Wrap it in tinfoil.
- throw03172019 5y ago
  That’s true. But it does help with the blocking their ads.
- Forbo 5y ago
  See previous discussion about this problem here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27701977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27701977 TL;DR- TVs are using their own cellular connections and/or neighboring open wireless networks.
  - gsich 5y ago
    >L;DR- TVs are using their own cellular connections The link doesn't say that.
    - rovr138 5y ago
      It links to https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/01/huawei-reportedly-plans-first-5g-8k-tv-to-one-up-samsung-and-apple/ https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/01/huawei-reportedly-plans-f... And it opens with, > Though its 5G products are not entirely welcome in the United States, Huawei is reportedly pushing forward with a unique new product: the world’s first 5G television. As Nikkei reports this morning, the Chinese company plans to use the cellular-enabled TV and new PCs to challenge Samsung’s and Apple’s dominant positions in the global consumer electronics market.
      - kelnos 5y ago
        That's not really what's being talked about, though. The fear is that if you don't connect your TV to your wifi network, it will have a secret, hidden LTE radio that it uses anyway. It doesn't seem that Huawei is being at all secretive about this; they are advertising it as a feature.
        Forbo 5y ago
        You're ignoring the part where Samsung TVs are actively connecting to open networks.
      - gsich 5y ago
        That's a single TV, also is this on the market, the link said "reportedly"? The other comment is also correct.
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  I guess that's one benefit of not having a usable mobile signal at my house.
- tshaddox 5y ago
  It's also true (by definition) that literally any device that you own could be connecting through LTE without your knowledge.
  - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
    Is LTE a synonym for free internet? Who pays for connection?

k4rli 5y ago

With LG C9 I haven't seen a single ad in a year since I've had it. There are large amounts of tracking being blocked by pi.hole however. One LG domain has been blocked 22.5k times in past 8.5 months.

kelnos 5y ago
The thing that would bother me about this is that you only know what's being blocked; you have no idea if other spyware is getting through because your pihole just doesn't happen to know about another domain in use. The only surefire way to block it would be to put some metal or foil around the wifi antenna (or disconnect it entirely, if possible). Otherwise the TV could connect to any random open wifi network it might find (assuming there is one in range). Even if you connect it to your own network and block all its traffic, it might just decide your network is broken and find another one.