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LG TVs and monitors said to surveil users and install bloatware without asking
(www.notebookcheck.net)
this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2026
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Does anyone make dumb TVs anymore? Seems like there's a sizable market for it. I haven't had a TV in 6 years and want one for local channels, but I really don't want a smart TV.
I just never gave my smart TV network info. It’s at the factory settings and can’t connect to anything. If there isn’t a console connected to it then it is useless. Just like the good ole days.
They still have ways to connect, though they're lower bandwidth and less reliable.
How?
You didn't connect your Samsung smart TV, but your neighbor did, and they connect over a second separate Samsung™©® network that you and your neighbor both 'consented' to in the Eula's, where media fingerprints and timestamps are exchanged updated, etc during downtime. Evil mesh networks, basically.
Or Sony™, or rjfyjdokfdrlvdgjg™, or whatever.
I wish Lemmy had a ban list and post/thread removal list. It'd make it easier to know what's allowed here.
That's really interesting and very plausible. I'd never considered it.
Documented. Forget where.
just get a smart one and never connect it online
ok how can I watch anything then?
Plug your own devices in with HDMI.
assuming you have a coax cable connection on it, mount an antenna, go to settings and find a channel scanner to run
They still access and provide a route through your wifi.
What? How would they do that if they are never connected to WiFi in the first place?
They still talk and connect if you want them to or not. The "permissions" is mostly for the apps to talk back and forth. It is still usable by anyone who knows how.
Smart TVs do not magically connect to your WiFi without credentials.
Now if there is an open WiFi available, that might be a way or if the TV has a deal with a carrier to use all that open automatic WiFi.
A bit more technical details please. How do the connect to what? It sounds a bit like they can just magically connect via telepathy to their home base if you phrase it like that.
Its not that difficult, scan for open wifi, if detected, connect, phone home to spy central.
The more sinister, each tv that successfully detects a connection to spy central broadcasts a 2nd wifi that the tv can scan for and connect similar to mesh networking.
There are tons of reasons to want a network connected monitor, the problem is no-one seems interested in producing one without the spyware. I’d love a 40”+ device that supported rtsp, etc but until enough people step up and boycott all this spy crap it’ll never be worth producing better devices. 😞
Mh, yeah I see the possibility of using an open network in theory, but in practice I haven't seen a open Wifi network in years (excluding business owned ones, but usually you need to confirm something there and can't use them forever). So not sure how feasible that is. The more sinister option is done by Echo devices for example (that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Sidewalk), but also requires a second device nearby. Much more possible possible though, if similar devices are nearby. But that can't be hidden anyway and it should be possible to check for that.
I feel like the best option to get the monitor network connected is still a secondary device and never using the built in firmware (and first checking if said device got things like you described).
I'm confused; are you suggesting the TVs ship with an embedded SIM?
not if you dont connect it. of course my "smart" tv allows that, your's may not. they all will bitch and moan about turning it on when first set up but you should be able to ignore it or set it up "later"
Sceptre seems to be the only company makinh consumer-grade dumb TVs.
There is, its called industrial tv "iiyama" for example is a brand of those
I've looked into these in the past. Unfortunately, they are extremely dated TVs that are visually and aesthetically unpleasing.