What the Tech: Is your SmartTV spying on you?

WILX-TV10 ^ | By Jamey Tucker Published: Jul. 21, 2023 at 6:50 PM CDT

[fuzzylogic]

This isn’t about just devices. It’s products like www.segment.com - they provide software libraries for Android/iOS based devices (so includes TV’s) so that analytics & data tracking can be baked into any application.

I’m currently working with source code using this, the application is for thermostat control over wifi.

How many of your applications are tracking you? My guess is most of them.

[fuzzylogic]

See my post #21.

It’s not so much the OS, it’s the applications....although not having internet access on goes a long way.

[HeadOn]

I’m wondering... I use Roku. If I turn off the TV Wifi, I think the Roku would still work. (But I bet the Roku stick is doing the same thing...)

[SharpRightTurn]

We’re being monetized. And we’re paying for it.

[Disambiguator]

My “smart” (ahem) TV is rarely used. It’s usually unplugged, and it’s not connected to the internet.

[Zack Attack]

They get no valid data from me. My TV is on 24/7 and I usually have no idea what is showing. I just like the white noise in the background, especially when sleeping.

[catnipman]

“Is your SmartTV spying on you?”

no ... my smart tv is disconnected from the internet and used only as a dumb monitor ... however, i have no doubt my roku box and satellite box are spying on me; however, they can report only what i watch ...

[Laslo Fripp]

The real Elvis did it with a .45.

[Dr. Sivana]

If I turn off the TV Wifi, I think the Roku would still work. (But I bet the Roku stick is doing the same thing...)

Some TVs have built-in ROKU. For those you need TV WIFI on. The ROKU stick is its own thing. It would work with an HDMI "dumb" noon-TV monitor. And yes, you can bet ROKU is collecting data.

[Red Badger]

>...however, they can report only what I watch ...<

That’s what they want you to think...................🤦‍♂️😉😎

[FrozenAssets]

If someone has a desperate need to keep tabs on an old boring homesteader they really need to get a life!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

You don’t even wanna know what your cell phone is sharing.

Onion/Tor browser fixes that.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

I know several people who have had the same experience. They hadn't searched for anything on the internet nor emailed or DM'd about it, was completely verbal. Am going to guess that the Google voice-activated app was responsible - it would hear something, then run with it all on its own.

 

 

[Paal Gulli]

I got an LG with NO ANDROID/GOOGLE to avoid that. It has WebOS instead...."

They all have a Linux kernel. And WebOS can be rooted, just like Android. https://rootmy.tv/

[cgbg]

Snowden made the case that no software can save you—one layer is hack is the hardware in the factory.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Has to be something like that. As others have pointed out, the phone has to be listening all the time so it can hear you say, “Hey, Google,” or whatever.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

They probably have the AI tuned with the ability to key in on certain combinations of words or phrases without deliberate and permitted input from the target that are then passed through the system into a personalized marketing campaign. Another scandal in waiting, when hard confirmation of that tactic surfaces there's gonna be the usual wash-rinse-repeat of public outrage, investigation, hearings, lawsuits, sanctioning and so forth.

 

 

[HartleyMBaldwin]

For all the good that’ll do. TV stations aren’t supposed to turn up the volume of commercials, either, for about the last 60 or 70 years.

[Dr. Sivana]

They all have a Linux kernel. And WebOS can be rooted, just like Android. https://rootmy.tv/

Of course, but Android/Google is built from the ground up to be part of an enormous data mining machine in a way that plain Linux is not.

[minnesota_bound]

I talk on my android phone and will soon see programs related on what I talked about on the Youtube channel I watch thru the Roku box. Also shows up on the computer at Youtube.