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> How easy would it be for one of these holes to let someone control my TV? My webcam? Easy. Article doesn't provide any examples. Does anyone else have exam

> How easy would it be for one of these holes to let someone control my TV? My webcam? Easy. Article doesn't provide any examples. Does anyone else have examples of this happening or is this just FUD?

fuzzywalrus 13y ago
Agreed. There was the instance of LG being outed for collecting the names of images/movies/etc read from USB media being reported back to a central server but not in the same Orwellian sense that webcams forever monitoring video streams and archiving conversations. I haven't read of any exploits of smart TVs being used to monitor subject. Feasible? Sure. Reality? Probably not.
- eamann 13y ago
  I haven't read of anything specific to smart TVs either. But here's my concern: this can (and is) happening with webcam-enabled, network-connected computers. A smart TV is essentially just a computer that's _always_ network-connected and, as evidenced by someone walking into a room and saying "TV on," always on as well. Feasible? Very. Reality? We don't hear about every detected exploit ... Smart TVs are new enough that, even if this _is_ happening today, we won't hear about it in the media or online for quite some time.
  - eamann 13y ago
    There's also further insight in the comments: http://eamann.com/tech/is-your-tv-watching-you/#comment-2529 http://eamann.com/tech/is-your-tv-watching-you/#comment-2529
eamann 13y ago
Not FUD. It happens: http://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/18/software-allows-hackers-to-activate-macbook-webcams-without-green-warning-light/ http://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/18/software-allows-hackers-.... I've used similar approaches to check on my home office from remote locations. Given, I have the correct credentials to get in to my home network, but I'm using off-the-shelf tech here so there's a high potential for hidden zero-days to exist. In college I actually discovered (6 months after it started) that a group of students had hacked my PC and were using it to host a private message board. Had no idea until someone from the school contacted me and told me to shut down my "unapproved social network" ...

fuzzywalrus 13y ago

Agreed. There was the instance of LG being outed for collecting the names of images/movies/etc read from USB media being reported back to a central server but not in the same Orwellian sense that webcams forever monitoring video streams and archiving conversations. I haven't read of any exploits of smart TVs being used to monitor subject. Feasible? Sure. Reality? Probably not.

eamann 13y ago
I haven't read of anything specific to smart TVs either. But here's my concern: this can (and is) happening with webcam-enabled, network-connected computers. A smart TV is essentially just a computer that's _always_ network-connected and, as evidenced by someone walking into a room and saying "TV on," always on as well. Feasible? Very. Reality? We don't hear about every detected exploit ... Smart TVs are new enough that, even if this _is_ happening today, we won't hear about it in the media or online for quite some time.
- eamann 13y ago
  There's also further insight in the comments: http://eamann.com/tech/is-your-tv-watching-you/#comment-2529 http://eamann.com/tech/is-your-tv-watching-you/#comment-2529

eamann 13y ago

Not FUD. It happens: http://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/18/software-allows-hackers-to-activate-macbook-webcams-without-green-warning-light/ http://www.macrumors.com/2013/12/18/software-allows-hackers-.... I've used similar approaches to check on my home office from remote locations. Given, I have the correct credentials to get in to my home network, but I'm using off-the-shelf tech here so there's a high potential for hidden zero-days to exist. In college I actually discovered (6 months after it started) that a group of students had hacked my PC and were using it to host a private message board. Had no idea until someone from the school contacted me and told me to shut down my "unapproved social network" ...