A new Gamers Nexus investigation found a retail LG TV actively scanning the local network for phones, laptops, smartwatches and other connected devices, while also capturing microphone audio when the screen appeared to be in standby. The investigation found voice data being stored locally even after the TV was disconnected from the network, with the queued data uploaded once connectivity returned. Researchers also uncovered webOS vulnerabilities that could potentially turn the television into a remotely controlled surveillance device. The really unsettling part isn’t just the advertising angle. It’s the fact that a consumer television can sit inside your trusted network, enumerate other devices, access a microphone, store collected data locally and communicate with external infrastructure. Put that same device in a corporate office, hospital, hotel or conference room and the security implications become considerably more serious. I went through the investigation in detail, including the network scanning, microphone behavior, ACR, webOS attack surface, offline data collection and practical mitigations



I don’t want a dumb TV, and I don’t want to choose between “convenience and privacy” - I want a TV with a slot for basically a RasPi cartridge I can slot in that runs my own goddamn OS as the smart TV. This isn’t rocket science. This shouldn’t require compromise. Imagine if in 1995 every desktop PC had Windows 95 hardwired into the motherboard as the only OS that could boot; it’s deranged.
The real problem is that there’s no profit in any of the innovation we actually want, and that’s capitalism’s fault for being unable to deliver.