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- cross-posted to:
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Smart TVs with an internet connection: Lets grab screenshots and send them to cooperate analysis advertisement department.
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I have an LG “Smart” TV, but because I don’t use it much (view the News in the Public TV and little more) I never connected it to the WiFi, so offline this Live Plus is irrelevant for me.
Enough is enough. If I ever buy a TV, I will personally tear out anything even remotely resembling an antenna (including destroying PCB antennas).
I basically just assume that anything which is closed-source, networked and has sensors of any kind is a spying device. It’s easier than evaluating each one individually.
It’s going to get to the point where we’ll need 3rd party open source OSes for every device in our homes.
“Your toaster is spying on you, use ToastOS instead.”
I have faith that soon even ‘dumb’ devices will ship with small multi-year battery powered cell-connected evices that cannot be disabled, and are not part of an OS.
Reminds me of the Cory Doctorow story Unauthorized Bread. It’s as depressing as it is relevant even though it tries to shoot for hope.
Was just going to post this as well.
I still believe this leaves a good market for a brand to just make privacy focused TVs.
If I’m buying a $1000 TV, I would pay $1100 if it means it’s just a screen and not smart.
The only obstacle is enough people wanting this.
Considers how much the average person cares
Maybe it’s a fantasy.
Agreed. I tried looking for a big monitor instead of a TV last time we were in the market for one and there were shockingly few options.
There is a market, but it’s to small for companies to care about
The problem is you can just buy the $1000 TV you actually want and a $50 Android TV box to get the best of both worlds.
Now if only there was better competition on that Steaming box front.
Yeah. Looks like RootmyTV is only for older models of LG TVs and that’s kind of sad.
tvs are annoying to the point people recommend never connecting them to the internet and getting a raspberry pi to use as a “smart hub” sort of thing instead.
You’re not too far off: there are water kettles and rice cookers (Xiaomi) and vacuum cleaners with app support (and definitely not collecting telemetry…)
I got a nice OLED TV as my main monitor. I only connect it to the internet to run updates if I think it is necessary (there is also usually a USB option for updates too), then disconnect once that’s done. Works great for sailing the seas and streaming whatever. It’s unfortunate I paid for stuff that I won’t use in the TV, but that’s often the case with many products these days.
I don’t know if it’s still the case, but smart TVs were a bit cheaper than “dumb” TVs at one point, since the cost of the TV was subsidised by all the streaming platforms that paid to be included on the TV manufacturer’s OS, and have a customized Netflix or Amazon logo button on the remote that opens their app.
I don’t know if this is done anymore since there are hardly any dumb TVs out there being made now.
I get the feeling they have started to double/triple dip at this point, full price + sell your data + advertise.
Luckily TCL and Hisense have made the price of panels so cheap that unless you want some fancy OLED that a 300 dollar TV is more than enough for the vast majority of people.
It can’t send screen shots if it doesn’t connect to the internet. I own an LG TV and it’s never been connected to a network.
For those of you who need it:
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Press the Settings button on your remote (the gear icon).
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When the side menu pops up, select Settings.
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Chose the General option.
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Scroll down and select System.
5, Select Additional Settings.
- Toggle Live Plus off.
Plenty of TVs are capable of radioing your neighbour’s TV and piggybacking off their internet connection, so if it’s not in a Faraday cage, it might be overconfident to say it’s never been connected to a network.
You’re going to need to provide some evidence for such a claim. That doesn’t even sound legal.
Not OP but I think this guy is remembering a scene from silicon valley, not from reality. That said it’s probably not that far off. Amazon smart devices absolutely have this “feature” in production today-- and it’s opt-out, not opt-in.
Thanks for that. Just another reason to be glad I’ve banned any Amazon devices in my house. It’s already insane enough to me that people literally have to think before they speak in their own homes to avoid accidentally triggering the always-listening robo-creepy-spy in the next room.
Source on this?
I don’t know if they use it on their Fire TVs but Amazon Sidewalk, for instance, does exactly what the previous commenter described.
Not OP, but I have heard that some smart TVs do automatically join open networks. Whether it’s true or not, I can’t say.
But if it is true, I would imagine it would vary between manufacturers and even specific device models.
This sounds just like when my family member tell me that their phones are “listening to what they say” because they talk about something and then see an advertisement for it.
No, you’re seeing the ad because you googled it and forgot that you did. Or someone else on the house did.
Automatically joining open networks is a feature built into many devices, this is simply alleging that some TVs come with it enabled by default…
Also, that is a real feature that some advertising company’s offer to their clients:
https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-listening-ad-targeting/
Sounds like you owe some of your family members an apology.
The obvious choice is “don’t buy tvs that might do this” but if you’ve already got one, open up the case, find the wifi antenna, and pull the little connection out.
Im gonna guess most people who buy tvs like this dont have the knowledge to do this.
This is not a reasonable answer lol
Many times there aren’t reasonable solutions to unreasonable situations. You pick from the options you have.
That’s fair.
Interesting. But my house basically is a faraday cage. I have no signal outside it from my wifi or any of the others because of the way they were constructed. I have to have wifi repeaters indoors and a mobile repeater setup to get cell coverage inside.
So I guess I’m lucky in that respect.
But all in all this is good information for people to know including me. Thanks for that.
I also have an LG TV that I do not connect to the internet. How have you solved the problem of it frequently harassing you to recalibrate the screen, and connect to the internet?
I haven’t but that’s probably because I don’t use it to do anything that would require that. Like. Everything (switching inputs, volume etc) is handled by my receiver. The devices that are hooked up to the receiver all have their settings on device.
It may also depend on what firmware your TV came with and what model you have?
Sorry I can’t be more help.
This.
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Why are people connecting their tvs to the internet at all vs using a dedicated streaming box? Are tvs now forcing you to do so on initial setup?
I haven’t bought a tv in 10+ years - want to get another but honestly feel sketched out at the prospect of doing so.
I don’t get why people reflexively suggest streaming boxes. A standalone Roku, Onn or FireTV is gonna spy on you just as much as any of these things. Apple TV is probably the best of a bad bunch (esp. since Nvidia enshittified the Shield TV). There’s options like running the Shield with an alternate launcher or putting a ROM on the Fire stick or running A Linux STB but none of those are particularly accessible to the non-tech set.
hypothetically the box doesn’t see everything else you do with the TV, but that’s a minimal reduction in footprint.
Thank you. “I refuse to send my data to my tv company! Here, Apple, you take it instead.”
Look for “digital signage”. It’s a screen designed to be used for, like, menus in fast food restaurants. But watch out, though, because the Samsung one I bought recently still had an Internet connection. I’ve simply chosen to not connect it, but it still pesters me about it.
My Epson projector doesn’t have a smart OS. A lot of modern cheap projectors are unfortunately broken that way.
I don’t understand why people don’t just buy a monitor or projector if they’re privacy focused. I have never owned a “smart” tv amd never will.
Getting a 4k monitor the size of a large-screen TV (65in+) is hard and expensive. A projector is great only in very ideal conditions (proper white and smooth backdrop, dark room with no light interference). Dumb TVs used in digital signage are usually not on par with regular TVs in terms of display quality, and they are also expensive. The best budget-friendly option is a disconnected 4k TV and a streaming box.
Intended roles and respective optimizations. Couch vs. 1 meter away in dpi and size.
LG doesn’t make disabling Live Plus too hard, though you do have to click through a few menus. If you want to turn it off, here’s how:
1. Press the Settings button on your remote (the gear icon).
2. When the side menu pops up, select Settings.
3. Chose the General option.
4. Scroll down and select System.
5, Select Additional Settings.
6. Toggle Live Plus off.
In the Settings menu on its TVs, LG says, “By turning Live Plus on, you understand that the content displayed on your TV can be recognized, and that the viewing information may be used to provide you with an enhanced viewing experience and personalized services including content recommendations and advertisements.”
And then fingers crossed. Since you don’t know if this option is doing something at all. After all their source code is not open source.
Anyhow… Have fun. Good luck. And it’s better to fully disconnect your smart TV from the internet and wifi. And just use your own home theater computer with Linux. And don’t use any of their smart features or apps.
What an age we live in!
I’ve decided my next TV will be a Digital Sinage Display.
I’m in the same boat… Somewhere out there, there MUST be a high quality panel with good contrast, viewing angles, and motion, WITHOUT the spyware garbage in it.
I imagine the price of such a TV would be quite high, since the manufacturer would need to make up for the revenue lost from not having spyware.
They do tend to be more expensive. But not extremely so. Maybe 20-40% more than a consumer equivalent.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/the-ars-technica-guide-to-dumb-tvs/
tl;dr- don’t connect the tv to a network, get an apple tv
Digital signage displays are purpose-built for displaying corporate messages, often for all or most hours of the day. They typically have features that people don’t need for TV watching, such as content management software. And due to their durability and warranty needs, digital signage displays are often more expensive than similarly specced computer monitors.
Again, it’s important to ensure that the digital signage is HDCP 2.2-compliant if you plan to watch 4K or HDR.
But if you happen to come across a digital signage display that’s the right size and the right price, is there any real reason why you shouldn’t use it as a TV? I asked Panasonic, which makes digital signage. A spokesperson from Panasonic Connect North America told me that digital signage displays are made to be on for 16 to 24 hours per day and with high brightness levels to accommodate “retail and public environments.”
The spokesperson added:
Their rugged construction and heat management systems make them ideal for demanding commercial use, but these same features can result in higher energy consumption, louder operation, and limited compatibility with home entertainment systems.
Panasonic’s representative also pointed out that real TVs offer consumer-friendly features for watching TV, like “home-optimized picture tuning, simplified audio integration, and user-friendly menu interfaces.”
If you’re fine with these caveats, though, and digital signage is your easiest option, there isn’t anything stopping you from using one to avoid smart TVs.
The problem is “smart TVs with an Internet connection”. You can still buy non-connected TVs, but they’re hard to find.
all the “smart” features are garbage though. it’s not a privacy issue but that shit should just take in a video signal and display an image. anything smarter than closed captions probably makes the device worse.
Dude. You bought an LG and gave it access to the Internet. What did you expect?
