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Cybersecurity bounty hunter says Samsung TVs use AI to record audio and screenshots for ads (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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A hacker reverse-engineered his own Samsung TV and found alarming spying activity, including code that used connected devices' microphones to listen to users.

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[–] 13 points 1 week ago (11 children)

I kind of need a tutorial how to use a samsung (or whatever brand) smart tv without them tracking us like that - but with still being able to stream netflix and stuff, I just wanna have both, streaming & privacy 😭

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  • [–] 43 points 1 week ago (6 children)

    I'm sorry to break it to you but streaming services and privacy don't mix. Your best bet is to sail the high seas.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 week ago* (2 children)

    Yup, 'smart' TVs should never get a live internet connection, ever. Don't give it a WIFI password, if you have made that mistake change the password now. Attach a computer, preferably Linux, and use it as a monitor. Even if you then go ahead and use a streaming service (boo), at least you're not just giving audio/video of your living room to Samsung as well.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    I have an antenna for local tv and if there's a movie I want to watch I load it onto a USB stick and plug it into the side of the TV.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Completely false. I stream without problems, while still retaining all my privacy. (I stream from my friends jellyfin servers)

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  • [–] 11 points 1 week ago

    All of the ACR “features” and the audio capture features are behind separate, optional EULAs that the TV will work fine without. The GN video about LG was behavior if you agree to every EULA as well. You can add on a pi-hole and a smart tv blocklist for added protection, e.g., https://github.com/hkamran80/blocklists/blob/main/smart-tv.txt

    It’s very easy to setup Wireshark and capture the traffic coming off your devices as well if you want to be sure.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 week ago

    Disconnect your TV from the internet and use a streaming stick. AppleTV is the least evil among the commercial ones. So you still have the normal streaming experience without the TV spying on you. However, as others have mentioned, these TVs are so bad that they try to find nearby unsecured wifi to transmit your data. So unless your immediate neighbors all have password protected wifi, and no one with an open hotspot gets in range, there's still a chance.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    Just get a minipc and wireless keyboard. It's less of a headache than trying to make a smart tv not a privacy nightmare with how you can't even replace the TV OS for most of them like you can for some phones. They aren't worth connecting to the internet if you care about privacy.

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