this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
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Your TV Is Spying On You (www.ludlowinstitute.org)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Pro@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
 

You sit down to relax, put on your favorite show, and settle in for a night of binge-watching. But while you’re watching your TV… your TV is watching you.

Smart TVs take constant snapshots of everything you watch. Sometimes hundreds of snapshots a second.

Welcome to the future of "entertainment."

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[–] shiroininja@lemmy.world 70 points 1 day ago (4 children)

So does your isp, and uses that for targeted ads. My pihole is constantly blocking a domain ran by xfinity that collects data for their targeted ad service

[–] Lojcs@lemm.ee 26 points 1 day ago

I don't think those two facts are related? Your isp doesn't need to connect to its servers from within your local network to track your internet usage. Something else in your network must be trying to connect to that domain

[–] plantsmakemehappy@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

What domain do I can make sure it's blocked?

[–] shiroininja@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thanks, looks like it's on the Stevenblack list.

[–] MyPornViewingAccount@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Id also like to know what lists hes using

It's on https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/hosts

I also have additional lists from firebog.net, and I use jacklul/pihole-updatelists to maintain it.

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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I've really gotta look into pihole.

[–] shiroininja@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

It’s really been great

[–] supernicepojo@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can I get some more info. Do you know what device on your network is asking for said address?

Roku: has its own problems, but I dont use the smart tv features and turn them all off especially the wifi. It doesnt talk to my isp and ive never got requests from it.

[–] shiroininja@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think it’s my LG TV. But it has its own service that I also block.

Here is the service from xfinity that I’m talking about. It’s relatively new to my network and has increased my blocked percentage by a lot. Mind you, I have 1,900,000+ domains on my blocklist

[–] supernicepojo@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Are you using isp provided hardware?

My experience with said items has been poor. Literal open doors to your network.

[–] shiroininja@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’m using my xfinity router/modem in bridge mode to my router.

[–] supernicepojo@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

Do whatever you can to remove this from your network as soon as you can. OpenWRT as a suggestion.

[–] Nima@leminal.space 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)

oh I disabled my "smart" TV's ability to connect to the internet. its a dumb TV now.

it made the mistake of showing me a banner ad while I was gaming. so I promptly cut its balls off in retaliation.

[–] MyPornViewingAccount@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You can run pihole on Ubuntu.

Point all your network traffic on it and you can still use your TV without your tv using you.

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[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 8 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

My TV is not a smart TV, it's not spying on me.

[–] tfowinder@lemmy.ml 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

How old is it ? Which one did you buy

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[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago

Well, maybe a Hisense or a cheap soundbar might have a listening device, but they'll be hard pressed to phone home.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago (11 children)

YOUR tv is spying on you. MY tv has no smart capability.

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[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

It doesn't if you don't connect it to the internet. Fortunately most smart TVs still have HDMI inputs so you can use them as dumb TVs with a PC.

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

Yep. My TV has not and never will be on the Internet in any way. I picked it for its screen quality, and the fact that it also has "smart" components never even entered into the decision. Because those smart components will literally never do anything.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

no it isn't. yours might be, but not mine.

[–] TipRing@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (5 children)

My ACL says my TV can't talk to the internet.

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[–] f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4@sopuli.xyz 15 points 1 day ago

The company that made my TV is engaged in copyright infringement, you say? Transmitting copyrighted images over the Internet for profit?

Huh.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In other news, water found to be wet, puppies cute. More at 11.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Do you have pictures of these puppies? We need confirmation.

[–] lemmylommy@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Hundreds of snapshots a second? So my tv has at least 200 Hz? Or do they snap the same frame multiple times just for fun?

[–] JustARegularNerd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Part of the reason why I take good care of my little 24" dumb TV. It's on the lower end (poor viewing angles, absolutely no adjustment on the legs) but I still have a use for it, so I won't be replacing it.

The other concern I have with smart TVs is because manufacturers basically install a smartphone SoC, the TV's lifecycle is now the same as a smartphone. Most people probably won't connect a new smart TV box to their discontinued, laggy (thanks to bloated apps) smart TV, the completely functional unit just gets replaced.

We need regulation to be able to unlock these devices and make available the firmware drivers so that after the manufacturer stops support, the community can continue it (and obviously for us hackers, we would strip the system of all telemetry)

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Comms must be infrequent bc my domain sink doesn't log anything like that from my tv when I've checked

[–] thedruid@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago
[–] sexy_peach@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago

Not mine, since I don't have one ;)

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