I’d like to start a discussion about TV privacy in 2023. I’ve never been interested in having a TV, but recently I was thinking of getting one. Looking into it, the privacy implications seem horrible. All the major brands seem to have cameras, microphones, and content recognition software. I can’t believe how dystopian it is.

I also notice that most of the articles about this are from a few years ago. Are things better now? Do they still collect an Orwellian amount of data?

As I understand it, there are a few mitigation options:

  1. Leave it disconnected from the internet and use a separate device for streaming. But it sounds like some brands have incessant nag screens, or disable features until connected to the internet. I was looking into the Samsung Frame TV, but I’m not even sure you can use the art mode without internet. Does anyone know?
  2. Pi-hole set up with a blocklist. It’s disheartening that such a technical solution would be necessary.
  3. Get a commercial “dumb” display. These are more expensive, and usually thicker.
  4. Go through the menu and disable privacy violating settings. Does this work? I’m doubtful.
  • electromage@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I saw a story a while back about Smart TVs automatically connecting to open WiFi networks to phone home even without the user configuring anything.