3 ms·

Disconnecting it from the internet isn't enough, because it will store spying data forever until it gets a connection, and it will connect to any open WiFi. You

by mitxela 2mo ago

Disconnecting it from the internet isn't enough, because it will store spying data forever until it gets a connection, and it will connect to any open WiFi. You have to disconnect it from the power, and then use a sledgehammer on the remains.

nosioptar 2mo ago
I'd rather open it up and remove/destroy just the network card. (I don't have to do so though because my tv is 20 years old.)
- mitxela 2mo ago
  What if the network isn't on a separate card?
  - nosioptar 2mo ago
    That'd be the time to grab your hammer, baseball bat, or shotgun.
  - gedy 2mo ago
    Then if you are lucky, the telescreen is in an unusual position. By sitting in the alcove, and keeping well back, you might be able to remain outside the range of the telescreen.
    - hoherd 2mo ago
      It's comical how close to the telescreen this whole thing is. > The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.
  - 15155 2mo ago
    Remove the AC coupling capacitor connecting the antenna to the transceiver.
gruez 2mo ago
>and it will connect to any open WiFi I've seen this claim made over and over again for various smart TVs, but so far I haven't seen any concrete evidence of this, only random speculation.
- digi59404 2mo ago
  I have a Samsung fridge. It’s not a smart fridge, it doesn’t have a screen, bluetooth, or any way to connect to it. I logged into my UniFi stack to monitor devices and it showed up. It had gotten the connection details from my wife’s phone, the other Samsung device and was transmitting data back to Google and Samsung.
  - gruez 2mo ago
    The far more likely explanation is that your unifi dashboard's device identification logic is broken and is misreporting the device. Otherwise it doesn't make sense for samsung to engage it a massive conspiracy of putting wifi hardware in non-smart devices (driving up the BOM cost), creating a massive botnet that can share credentials between devices, all so they can... maybe run a residential proxy network? Then subsequently detected by anyone who looks at their device list. Even if you think they're running some sort of massive botnet, the fridge being part of it is still implausible. They probably have billions of phones and tablets alone, plenty enough to scrape/DDoS the entire internet several times over. There's no need to add clandestine hardware into non-smart fridges.
    - digi59404 2mo ago
      It’s really not that far fetched. What led me to investigate was that I got a Samsung 49” smart monitor, my wife left the kitchen door open and it displayed alerts on my monitor. UniFi is not misrepresenting the device ID; while you’re right that happens. It didn’t here. The Mac ID is 1c:e8:9e:3d:c4:ad and is registered to SJIT who makes IOT Devices Samsung and smart fridges. I appreciate your skepticism, but the device is still connected to my WiFi. It has been since 2024, the Mac ID has not changed nor has its identification. I’ve also done packet tracing to determine it IS in fact the smart fridge. As for the “clandestine hardware to non-smart fridges”. Streamlining of production lines is nothing new. Being able to datamine people’s networks is worth the 20$ hardware chip.
add-sub-mul-div 2mo ago
If that happened would any of that data get tied back to you? If you haven't created any accounts or signed into anything.
- lokar 2mo ago
  They can use data gathered from your network. Perhaps you have some other connected device with an account they can match to. Or a phone.
- mitxela 2mo ago
  The TV looks for nearby Bluetooth and WiFi devices to identify when you're at home and who's at home. It also runs voice recognition to record your conversations as text, and uploads them. It also uploads the ID of what you're watching and when, though not the actual pixels, as far as anyone knows.
lokar 2mo ago
Block it on your router.
- nullbio 2mo ago
  Yeah, that's the only way to deal with this nonsense. Basically, block all devices that connect to your router from having outbound access and whitelist the ones you want to let through, with narrow firewall settings.

by mitxela 2mo ago

nosioptar 2mo ago

I'd rather open it up and remove/destroy just the network card. (I don't have to do so though because my tv is 20 years old.)

mitxela 2mo ago
What if the network isn't on a separate card?
- nosioptar 2mo ago
  That'd be the time to grab your hammer, baseball bat, or shotgun.
- gedy 2mo ago
  Then if you are lucky, the telescreen is in an unusual position. By sitting in the alcove, and keeping well back, you might be able to remain outside the range of the telescreen.
  - hoherd 2mo ago
    It's comical how close to the telescreen this whole thing is. > The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.
- 15155 2mo ago
  Remove the AC coupling capacitor connecting the antenna to the transceiver.

gruez 2mo ago

>and it will connect to any open WiFi I've seen this claim made over and over again for various smart TVs, but so far I haven't seen any concrete evidence of this, only random speculation.

digi59404 2mo ago
I have a Samsung fridge. It’s not a smart fridge, it doesn’t have a screen, bluetooth, or any way to connect to it. I logged into my UniFi stack to monitor devices and it showed up. It had gotten the connection details from my wife’s phone, the other Samsung device and was transmitting data back to Google and Samsung.
- gruez 2mo ago
  The far more likely explanation is that your unifi dashboard's device identification logic is broken and is misreporting the device. Otherwise it doesn't make sense for samsung to engage it a massive conspiracy of putting wifi hardware in non-smart devices (driving up the BOM cost), creating a massive botnet that can share credentials between devices, all so they can... maybe run a residential proxy network? Then subsequently detected by anyone who looks at their device list. Even if you think they're running some sort of massive botnet, the fridge being part of it is still implausible. They probably have billions of phones and tablets alone, plenty enough to scrape/DDoS the entire internet several times over. There's no need to add clandestine hardware into non-smart fridges.
  - digi59404 2mo ago
    It’s really not that far fetched. What led me to investigate was that I got a Samsung 49” smart monitor, my wife left the kitchen door open and it displayed alerts on my monitor. UniFi is not misrepresenting the device ID; while you’re right that happens. It didn’t here. The Mac ID is 1c:e8:9e:3d:c4:ad and is registered to SJIT who makes IOT Devices Samsung and smart fridges. I appreciate your skepticism, but the device is still connected to my WiFi. It has been since 2024, the Mac ID has not changed nor has its identification. I’ve also done packet tracing to determine it IS in fact the smart fridge. As for the “clandestine hardware to non-smart fridges”. Streamlining of production lines is nothing new. Being able to datamine people’s networks is worth the 20$ hardware chip.

add-sub-mul-div 2mo ago

If that happened would any of that data get tied back to you? If you haven't created any accounts or signed into anything.

lokar 2mo ago
They can use data gathered from your network. Perhaps you have some other connected device with an account they can match to. Or a phone.
mitxela 2mo ago
The TV looks for nearby Bluetooth and WiFi devices to identify when you're at home and who's at home. It also runs voice recognition to record your conversations as text, and uploads them. It also uploads the ID of what you're watching and when, though not the actual pixels, as far as anyone knows.

lokar 2mo ago

Block it on your router.

nullbio 2mo ago
Yeah, that's the only way to deal with this nonsense. Basically, block all devices that connect to your router from having outbound access and whitelist the ones you want to let through, with narrow firewall settings.