And as an added bonus, the configuration setting to turn it off doesn't actually turn it off. But wait - it gets even better!LG Smart TVs logging USB filenames and viewing info to LG servers
Earlier this month I discovered that my new LG Smart TV was displaying ads on the Smart landing screen.
After some investigation, I found a rather creepy corporate video advertising their data collection practices to potential advertisers. It's quite long but a sample of their claims are as follows:
LG Smart Ad analyses users favourite programs, online behaviour, search keywords and other information to offer relevant ads to target audiences.
It was at this point, I made an even more disturbing find within the packet data dumps. I noticed filenames were being posted to LG's servers and that these filenames were ones stored on my external USB hard drive.Because they buried some text in their End User License Agreement (EULA) saying that you were totally cool with that and everything. And so what was LG's response when he contacted him about this?
The advice we have been given is that unfortunately as you accepted the Terms and Conditions on your TV, your concerns would be best directed to the retailer. We understand you feel you should have been made aware of these T's and C's at the point of sale, and for obvious reasons LG are unable to pass comment on their actions.[blink blink]
So because you clicked the EULA you need to take it back to the retailer? Who almost certainly won't take it back, even though they sold it to you without you knowing you were like totally cool with LG spying on you.
One option would be to hire a lawyer and sue. That would make this the world's most expensive TV set. A better option is to never buy anything from LG that has an Ethernet jack on it.
Ever. But hey, that's just me. Maybe you're totally cool with them spying on you. And I'm sure it's totally safe to plug a camera into that thing. Totally.
Yet Another Reason not to watch the boob tube ...
Wait are we talking about Samsung or LG here?
ReplyDeleteThis causes me to wonder is the value of that advertizing in actual revenue to teh advertizers is worth all the effort they put into it. The more you refine and subdivide your ad, the fewer people you reach. Thus each one bears a higher purchasing burden to make it worth it.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the ad bubble will break seen and a lot of big businesses will discover that they are just giving away their profits by buying targeted ads.
--Hale
deadmandance, thanks. Fixed.
ReplyDeleteMy television is already smarter than I am.
ReplyDeleteI hate the damn things and blissfully lived without one for years but my (newish) wife insists that it be on twenty hours a day even if she isn't watching it.
If it weren't for the internet and headphones I would go blind trying to read books by the glow of the Boob Tube.
Sounds like the XBox (n)One with the ever on Kinect, or some of the other 'smart' TVs that can tell how many people are watching the set, or listen in to various conversations. Think it has to have a mike or camera? Wrong a few months ago a paper was published allowing for people tracking and individualization, even hand gesture tracking ... via wifi boxes.
ReplyDelete"We understand you feel you should have been made aware of these T's and C's at the point of sale, and for obvious reasons LG are unable to pass comment on their actions."
ReplyDeletePlease. Like your average WalMart employee has pre-printed copies of the T&Cs on-hand for every individual model of every device they sell.
(Although, I could see the benefit of attaching copies to the display models' price cards. I don't foresee that happening, however.)
Any TV with a T&C/EULA more complicated than, "If it's broken in the box it's on us; if it breaks in your house after [reasonable warranty period] it's on you," is not welcome in my home.
Which raises the question - with more and more "smart" appliances being created, and sold, what else reports back to the mother ship?
ReplyDeleteGoogle "internet connected appliance" (herafter, "ICA")and see what you get. Samsung makes an ICA refrigerator; Miele makes an ICA dishwasher; can't remember who, but someone made an ICA coffee maker a few years back.
Controlling home systems with a smart phone is a common ad message, so expect the trend to continue. If appliances have sensors - and who knows what sensors are included - and it can find your wi-fi, or a neighbor's unsecured wi-fi, what data will go back to Samsung, or LG or Electrolux. Will the EPA come knocking because your washer reported you are using too much detergent?
Now we have to read the EULA before buying an appliance; I wonder if the recent flap over NSA's overreach will lead to a revolt against appliance manufacturers (it should), and if LG tells you this model doesn't have sensors or internet connectivity can we believe them?
I foresee an increasing market for "dumb" appliances. Anyone for a 1930s gasoline-powered Maytag?
Which raises the question - with more and more "smart" appliances being created, and sold, what else reports back to the mother ship?
ReplyDeleteGoogle "internet connected appliance" (herafter, "ICA")and see what you get. Samsung makes an ICA refrigerator; Miele makes an ICA dishwasher; can't remember who, but someone made an ICA coffee maker a few years back.
Controlling home systems with a smart phone is a common ad message, so expect the trend to continue. If appliances have sensors - and who knows what sensors are included - and it can find your wi-fi, or a neighbor's unsecured wi-fi, what data will go back to Samsung, or LG or Electrolux. Will the EPA come knocking because your washer reported you are using too much detergent?
Now we have to read the EULA before buying an appliance; I wonder if the recent flap over NSA's overreach will lead to a revolt against appliance manufacturers (it should), and if LG tells you this model doesn't have sensors or internet connectivity can we believe them?
I foresee an increasing market for "dumb" appliances. Anyone for a 1930s gasoline-powered Maytag?
Too bad some enterprising young group of people with more smarts and talent and me couldn't start uploading and setting loose viruses on these sneaky bastards.
ReplyDeleteAnd ironically, I can't comment without using a Google Account or OpenID. Resistance is futile.
THAN me. More smarts and talent, and it would seems TYPING SKILLZ, than me. F*ck it, I'm gonna start drinkin'.
ReplyDeleteWe have one by Samsung but it's not very smart and we don't use the "smart" features or have that enabled - but it does have a on-screen guide, so my past life is somehow memorialized.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as until 2013 I had a flip phone. . .
ReplyDeleteTam: Wow, I didn't think they made those any more.
Me: Yes, and it has all kinds of functions!
Tam: What apps does it have?
Me: It has the RINGING app!
But seriously, the thing was drop kicked, stepped on, fell out of my pocket while rapelling to rocks below and went through a tornado in a bathtub in a cheesy motel in St. Louis and IT STILL WORKED. It wasn't until it dropped off the counter, directly into Barkley's water bowl it died and I had to get a modern phone.
I kinda miss it.
Brigid, I miss the old phones like that. They were robust in a way that the glass touchscreen ones can never be.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I miss my old Moto Brick, but I'm a bit of a dinosaur that way.
I have a flip phone, got it new last year.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't even have a camera.
I love it.
Sigh. Another thing to worry about. And my in-laws have one of those things in the sun-room. Maybe I'll wrap it in tinfoil.
ReplyDeletehttp://us.lgsmartad.com/main/main.lge
ReplyDeletethat link died pretty fast
So basically I need to dig my old tube TV out, go back to french press for coffee, get a true ice chest (and daily ice delivery), wash dishes by hand, wash clothes by hand, and communicate with carrier pigeons and telegraph....
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of work to do, excuse me.
This is practically screaming out for someone to fix with a Linux network appliance. I'd imagine that using iptables or whatever the right tool is, to set between your router and the internet in general, making sure that the TV can't talk to LG, isn't going to be very difficult.
ReplyDeleteJim, it seems that the LG Marketing Department is awake. LOL.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I quite like a French Press. Best coffee I've ever had came out of one. But your point is a good one.
Rick, until they start using SSL. Then your network box needs to do Man In The Middle. Not impossible, but harder. And I'm not so sure I did the idea of an Open Source MITM image for free download ...
Hmmmm......
ReplyDelete1984 need I say more.
This would be corporate spying except Big Brother monitors the interwebs so yes.