LG Smart tv "spying on viewing habits"

Analoguesat

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LG is investigating allegations that some of its TVs send details about their owners' viewing habits back to the manufacturer even if the users have activated a privacy setting.

It follows a blog by a UK-based IT consultant who detailed how his Smart TV was sending data about which channels were being watched.

His investigation also indicated that the TVs uploaded information about the contents of devices attached to the TV.



Full report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25018225
 

mikeisyou

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And you cant turn off the wifi unless you enter the wrong password
 

Hixxy1

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I've unplugged the smart tv from the internet and slung a pc behind it instead. Always thought the manufacturers would be up to something like this, even though mine's a Panny and not LG.
 

timo_w2s

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I really couldn't care less if my TV reported I watched BBC1 at 6pm yesterday or that I have a Sky box plugged into the TV. If you use on demand services they get similar info anyway. If it means the programmes I watch get higher ratings I'd actually be all for it, more chance they'll show similar stuff or renew a series if it proves popular!

I accept it's not good if the TV still sends data after switching the settings off, but even so it's hardly a major invasion of privacy. I'm much more concerned/paranoid about potential malware on my PC.
 

2cvbloke

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To be honest, this isn't a surprise really, someone as bound to use a smartTV as a way to gather viewing habit data at somepoint, legally or otherwise, I'm just glad my TV has wired networking only, and I don't always have that connected... :-lol

The biggest problem is, how far that LG software went with analysing the contents of an HDD connected to it and sending that info back to the manufacturer, that's private data that should only be seen by the owner of the hard drive, regardless of whether it's just the filenames alone... :rolleyes:
 

timo_w2s

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Actually I tell a lie, there is one case where I did think a while back that I hoped my TV didn't report back and that's when I had local Finnish TV channels tuned in but was "magically" watching BBC iPlayer via a UK IP address (VPN). Ho hum. :oops:
 
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