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All smart TVs—from LG, Samsung, TCL, and other brands—collect personal data. Here's how to use privacy settings to limit surveillance. (www.consumerreports.org)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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[–] 46 points 4 months ago (33 children)

Don't connect them to the Internet.

Done.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago (21 children)

    Don't reward shitty practices with your money. Just don't buy them.

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  • [–] 19 points 4 months ago (20 children)

    Where can you buy a non-smart TV ? I searched a lot, there is nowhere to buy such TV for private consumers. I could find some Hotel or Hospital TVs on eBay, they are all expensive and shit specs.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    There are several dumb tvs, such as the Samsung BEFX-H series and the LG UN640S. Yes, they are more expensive for the same specs, because they don't make money with ads and paid services.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

    This is the reason I have a 20+ year old plasma TV. Absolutely nothing smart and still somewhat thin. Also the picture is sometimes better for movies because of how it handles blacks and contrast.

    Burns more electricity I guess. But most plasmas should be around the time of the flat TV crazy started before LED took off. Before they started making them cheaper by stuffing them full of spy software.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    You can get a smart TV and set ut up without Wi-Fi. You can do that on Google TV, Tizen and WebOS. You will have to turn off the eco mode and motion smoothing so it is not dim and blurry.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Sceptre was still offering some non-smart TVs that were quite cheap and work fine. They aren't going to be super impressive in technical specs, but they work just fine. It might be worth considering a soundbar or speakers though, as that is one place you can feel the quality difference.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (4 children)

    Oof, I haven't had to shop for a tv in over a decade, so I assume it will be worse when it's my time.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    I got rid of my old TV that was developing purple spots when I moved to another apartment. I ended up going for a smart LG OLED tv with the specs I was looking for. Available at a good price. It's not connected to the network and boot straight to my Nvidia shield.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (2 children)

    I've had nothing but good experiences with LG tvs

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 child)

    They have been up to pretty shady stuff as of lately, like blocking your TV if you don't accept the new terms of the user agreement which mandates sending your data to 500 and some partners. As long as it never ever gets an internet connection, it should be fine.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    I bought some cheap "Sceptre" TV on Amazon 4 years ago. You're not going to be able to walk into a Best Buy or Walmart and find one, that's for sure.

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  • [–] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (7 children)

    Not done, they have shown to jump on unsecured networks to phone home. That coulr be a neighbour or a guests hotspot.

    Edit: I was correctly asked to source this and couldnt, it was a few reddit posts without back up. I should have checked before posting

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    they have shown to jump on unsecured networks to phone home.

    Source?

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    Not the person that commented, but this fear does stem from a real thing years ago related to, I believe, Amazon Fire TVs that were using some sort of mesh functionality to get data out. It was not wide spread, and now I can't find any links about it, but I did at the time when I was worried about it and I was trying to find more information. If I am not mistaken, this was a feature that Amazon actually patented, so I don't think it would have become common anyway. I know that without a good link this is just heresay, and that's fine to leave it that way since I don't think it is still happening anyway. If anyone else can manage to find a link, please share it hear as it is interesting and can show that it isn't likely a major concern.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    I mean, even if this was true and common, I dont really have an unsecured network anywhere close to my home and I imagine the same goes for most, like MOST other people as well. Thats while living in a city too, suburbs are probably even "better".

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