Your Phone Is Listening—Literally Listening—to Your TV

theatlantic.com ^ | NOV 19, 2015 | KAVEH WADDELL

[publius911]

Your Phone Is Listening—Literally Listening—to Your TV
And if you have a "smart TV" it could be watching you.

Thank you for posting that.

I have been looking for information to eliminate that "Feature."

Amazing what a bit of black tape will do on the proper spot.

[steve86]

I frequently male audible threats to all kinds of public people and movements but no one ever seems to come and get me.

[publius911]

I just bought a smart Vizio TV which is reputed to be spying on you. It has an ‘opt out’ feature which I engaged. I still don’t trust it though.,p>No one should.

Just use your user manual to locate the camera and tape over it.
Problem solved.

Now, if it has a built in mic, that may be tougher to find.

Another complication, services like Amazon fire TV or Netflix which use voice recognition may be compromised.

[publius911]

I haven’t watched television since April. Cancelled cable and watch exclusively Netflix now. I don’t miss it at all, and it’s stuff like this that makes me a little extra happy that I stopped watching TV proper.

I am about to do the same. After the special promotion was over, Comcast's "bundle" doubled in price to $270 a month. Within the next week, I am cancelling cable TV and keeping only phone service (for the moment) and cable internet.

This raises a few questions and any Freeper help would be appreciated.

When I cancel cable TV will the Comcast cable outlet it uses be available for internet access?

Will that internet access be available for Amazon Fire TV and Netflix and other "smart TV" features?

Thanks in advance

[caww]

I have phone and internet....dropped TV years ago and haven’t missed it one bit! Never looked back either....

[baltiless]

I still have the Comcast cable modem for Internet. Runs me about 30 bucks a month. And that of course enables Netflix and any other streaming services that might come up. I’ve never used Amazon or Hulu or any of the others, but certainly might if and when my financial situation improves.

[publius911]

I still have the Comcast cable modem for Internet. Runs me about 30 bucks a month. And that of course enables Netflix and any other streaming services that might come up. I’ve never used Amazon or Hulu or any of the others, but certainly might if and when my financial situation improves.

I apologize for not being clear. I know all that.

My question was specifically about the cable connection that the Comcast cable TV service Box/DVR is plugged into. is this connection different from internet only connection points? I have a few other cable connections elsewhere in the house.

In other words, are all cable TV service wall coax connections good for either internet or TV?
That is, all that is necessary for a coax connection to receive TV is a TV box from Comcast? And Netflix, etc needs no Comcast box at all?

[baltiless]

Ah, sorry.

Yeah, my coax from the cable box goes right into the router. No additional wires or anything needed.

Netflix, etc. needs no Comcast box at all. My TV has a “Netflix” button right on the remote control, which is kind of neat, but even if you don’t have that, most TVs now have it so that you can get to it on the screen via your remote. Same for all the other services (that I’m aware of).

[Buckeye McFrog]

I’ll subscribe to Dog TV the day my mixed-breed rescue pooch agrees to start paying the bill.

[Nifster]

hmmm