this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2026
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An investigation by Gamers Nexus found LG smart TVs sweep local networks to map phones and nearby devices. Tests also showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet.

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[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 7 points 42 minutes ago (1 children)

There's a lot of misinformation in the comments here.

  1. LG have been caught using the Internet connection of connected devices (like windows computers) to snoop on your network.
  2. Because of that, it has access to your network even if you remove the wifi module or do not connect the TV directly to your network.
  3. Lobotomizing the TV will not necessarily fix this issue, but I still think it's a good start. It may be beneficial to switch to a different operating system or just ban the TV from accessing certain parts of the Eco system on your computer.
  4. Removing Bluetooth, wifi, and microphone modules will be beneficial in the long run because this will not be the last time a company tries this and it's not limited to LG. If you are technically inclined or can follow a YouTube video, go for it.
[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 1 points 2 minutes ago

LG have been caught using the Internet connection of connected devices (like windows computers) to snoop on your network.

Do you have any sources for that? Not doubting it just curious about how that works.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 30 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (3 children)

Waiting for the "No idea how this happened, we're sorry and promise to make this better in future versions" moment - instead of admitting that this is just their business model.

Hoping for prosecution from the EU and at least one other country.

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[–] Lippy@fedia.io 3 points 9 minutes ago

Stuff like this is why I'm still holding on to my old TV for dear life. It's seen better days but it's at least easily repairable.

The amp went bad which causes the internal speakers to give up after a couple of minutes, so I just run it with a soundbar. Then one of the cats broke the optical port for it, so now it's taped on lol. The panel still works great, so I think I'll just replace the main board on it to keep it going for a few more years.

Once something on it finally goes where repairing it becomes unviable, then I've no idea where to go from there. I guess I'll just keep buying used TVs and fix them up.

[–] graycube@lemmy.world 42 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

My LG TV runs WebOS, which is a linux distro. I have been wondering how hard it is to root and replace with a distro of my own choosing. I had thought because my TV is pretty old that I was safe from the more sophisticated spying, but last week it interrupted what I was watching and would not let me continue using it without agreeing to new terms of use. This revived my interest in rooting it.

[–] doogstar@lemmy.100010101.xyz 2 points 9 minutes ago

https://cani.rootmy.tv/ - I just recently bought an LG for the first time, with eyes wide open, and used this site to get root on it, as well as VLANing it with a strict block list, but also an allow list only based policy, and strict no external DNS requests policies.

Also worth knowing that when accepting their policies many of them are optional and are just data slurping consent , think it was the top 2 compulsory in my region out of about 5.

[–] RunJun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

I saw this linked the other day. I haven’t looked into it deeply or done it.

[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 1 points 8 minutes ago

I didn't know LG webOS rooting was a thing, that's interesting to know.

There is an open source version of webOS, although I don't know how it compares to the stock LG version. Maybe there will eventually be something like a LineageOS equivalent.

[–] droans@lemmy.world 2 points 10 minutes ago

I rooted my C1 years ago. I spent weeks afterwards worried that I just destroyed the warranty of a $1,500 TV.

But today, I've never felt so justified.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 19 minutes ago

Go look up "tivoization". GPLv2 isn't enough to protect you from this shit.

[–] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (3 children)

And that's why I have a VLAN without outbound connections allowed. Still allows me to cast to the device from a separate vlan but the TV has no internet at all.

[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 1 points 12 minutes ago

Same here, smart devices go on a very restricted VLAN. Most only get access to Home Assistant for control.

Even without deliberate spying from these devices letting these things loose on the network at large has always seemed a bad idea to me.

[–] sickday@fedia.io 19 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Seriously, this is the way. I did this too in about 15 mins. Also setup a simple rule to allow the vlan to reach my homeserver in a separate vlan specifically on Plex and Jellyfin ports. That's it. They cant phone home. You still enjoy your own media.

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[–] RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

So this is why every product started to go standby, low power mode, instead of turning off.

[–] boonhet@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 hour ago

Also because people whine when things take too long to turn on but yes this too

[–] db_null@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Great, I wonder what my fridge is up to. It's LG and has wifi for some reason. I never connected it to my network, but I wouldn't be surprised if they take advantage of open networks anyway

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