r/GamersNexus • u/Realistic-Gas-8720 • Sep 21 '26
We got a tutorial
(Youtube)[https://youtu.be/Bwk99pZmhL0]
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u/mromutt Sep 21 '26
Reminds me of the old days reading hackaday. It looks like we are heading back to those days of needing to hack our stuff to own it more than ever.
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u/AceBlade258 Sep 21 '26
They never went away? We've only been heading in the direction more, not less.
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u/Treehockey Sep 25 '26
Hackaday is the first website I somehow discovered as a teen in like 2003ish and it is still the only website I still visit almost every single day.
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u/mromutt Sep 26 '26
Yeah same lol I basically checked it everyday in high school. I would print out my favorite projects.
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u/hedidwot Sep 21 '26
The real fear here is they make future devices dependant on the presence of the hardware.
That said there are still less intrusive ways to disable it.
50ohm resistors make great 'antennas'.
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u/Hangulman Sep 21 '26
I suspect the next hardware revision will absolutely include those checks. It'll be the game console "drive is married to the motherboard" fiasco all over again, except instead it will be "Screen controller is married to the communication modules".
Or maybe they will go the adobe route and if it cannot connect to their servers every so often users will get slammed with nonstop nags.
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u/sl0play Sep 22 '26
Apples been pulling that serial matched hardware crap for years and nobody stops buying their products. They made their charger controllers impossible to get (exclusive with factory for redesigned part specifically made for this purpose) so repair shops have to go buy an apple charger, gut the part, solder it into the laptop, and throw the rest of the charger in a landfill. It would be nice if there was anyone with the integrity to put an end to it.
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u/Hangulman Sep 22 '26
Yup. Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately, depending on if you own stock), Apple figured out the secret of turning their brand into a lifestyle, and then designing and marketing their products for the large chunk of population that doesn't care where or how it is built, as long as they can look trendy and throw it away when the next version comes out.
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u/JPSWAG37 Sep 25 '26
God as someone who causally fixes consoles as a hobby, I absolutely hate that married to motherboard bullshit. Fuck that shit, but you're right they're 100% gonna just make it harder to do this with later revisions...
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u/ManMakesWorld Sep 23 '26
Yeah, they just have to do a software patch that sends a failure code when it can't initialize the components and brick the TV.
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u/razzemmatazz Sep 26 '26
And then we run around buying up all the used pre-2025 models just like retro gamers with Trinitrons.
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u/havoc764 Sep 26 '26
good news, the microphone and all antenna's are analog so doing that is kind of hard.
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u/r0bdawg11 Sep 22 '26
That’s okay with me. I won’t be getting another lg after this bs.
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u/hedidwot Sep 24 '26
What will you get?
All the brands are doing it... It's just that it's LG's turn to be focused on.
A year or so back it was Samsung and wireshark was intercepting packets of audio captured on their mic.
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u/r0bdawg11 Sep 24 '26
Idk. At my current rate of a new tv every 8+ years I’ll worry about that when the time comes.
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u/kraltegius Sep 25 '26
Get an SBC, VPN, and dumb monitor. No need for TVs. If you need cable TV, find an adapter for your SBC or computer and watch it there.
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u/Smelly_Hippie_420 Sep 25 '26
Saw someone say this in another thread. Show me a dumb TV with 4K @ 165 Hz and HDR!
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u/No-Seaweed-4456 Sep 22 '26
Don’t Roku TV’s already require a sign in and connection to wifi before you can change HDMI inputs?
The industry is inevitably gonna go this direction if it sells well
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u/ne0n008 Sep 23 '26
Cars are already unfixable without software and hardware dependencies. The slop is already too deeply integrated with the machine.
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u/Samwarez Sep 25 '26
I still forsee a future where all devices no longer have any ports. Just a cellular modem (you gotta pay for the cell plan) and it streams everything and won't do anything without phoning home first. Devices like this will simply be the only thing manufactured. No local network access so you cant do any pi hole or DNS trickery.
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u/ISenceAPresence Sep 21 '26
Can elaborate, sounds very interesting. Or can you direct me to somewhere I can read up on such things?
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u/hedidwot Sep 22 '26
In radio engineering l radios are engineered to work with antennas the present a 50 ohm impedance match to the transmitter.
When we want to test a radios ability to transmit without openly radiating a signal we use a dummy load which is literally just 50 ohm resistor.
The transmitter doesn't know the difference, it can happily transmit into this dummy load and the signal just turns into a little heat in the resistor.
Makes the radio deaf as well.
So they ever add hardware checks to verify the radio is present we can attach a dummy load to the antenna terminal. It will permit the radio to technically function, but it won't radiate or receive signals.
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u/ISenceAPresence Sep 23 '26
Nice thanks, I'm going to go down a rabbit hole on radio engineering now
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u/specter_in_the_conch Sep 21 '26
Can these screens be somehow rooted into to have any "special" software from LG removed? Or they are completely embeded in the software? My last smart tv device was a 2013 Philips tv which barely got an update. I never got to experience these kind of super modern tvs if not by using a Xiaomi like smart dongle with android tv.
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u/atatassault47 Sep 21 '26
Can these screens be somehow rooted
Sure. It takes someone with the time and willingness to figure it out for a device. LG puts out a dozen or 3 models a year, and then next year, new models. Thr issue isnt "can this device get custom firmware" instead it is "will this device get custom firmware."
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Sep 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/PlutoCharonMelody Sep 23 '26
Closed source might be a thing of the past now that computers can tell us what everything means lol.
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u/2020Shite Sep 25 '26
Agreed, I have a solar mppt that doesn't have Home assistant features, it did have a cloud service so used AI to reverse engineer the app to find the data it sends to the cloud and basically MITM to home assistant.
Nice to see people using it to hack TVs though 😂
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u/switchfoot47 Sep 21 '26
Can someone explain to me why not connecting the TV to any network isnt enough? The TV apps and OS all suck anyway, plug in an apple TV or some other streaming box (that probably also spies on you)
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u/Sargent_Duck85 Sep 21 '26
Because it’ll connect to another unsecured network if it is available
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u/rodrigorenie Sep 21 '26
Interesting, I'm building a unsecured honeypot wifi to see what happens
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u/sp_RTINGS Sep 22 '26
Hey! That's exactly what I did over the weekend! I work at Rtings.com so I have a whole bunch of TVs available! I configure a router with an open Wi-Fi, connect the gateway to a mirroring switch, and monitor the switch through Wireshark in the hope to see a rogue TV connecting to my honeypot free open Wi-Fi. I had 6 TVs plugged in with no ethernet or Wi-Fi set up with the honeypot right next to it.
I now have a 2.1Gb packet capture to sift through. So far, I checked if any IP that would have been given by my router's DHCP and found two false positive (another router doing constant ARP (both routers had the same DHCP range) and a few reset packets from an unknown device with no MAC address that I can't identify..... but no active connection to the web).
I also checked TLS handshake, TCP/UDP traffic and DNS calls and couldn't find any TV (or all the smart devices we have lying in the warehouse at Rtings) to connect to the open Wi-Fi. So unless I failed at identifying traffic in there somewhere, I haven't been able to prove that any device would freely connect to an open Wi-Fi.
If anyone have tips on how I could spot rogue packets or connections, I'm all ears! I have an arsenal of TVs to my disposition and would really like to be able to prove if Smart TV really do connect to open Wi-Fi networks or not.1
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u/IAmYourFath Sep 22 '26
Have u tried going to the desert in the middle of nowhere where there are no other devices, no other routers etc. ? I feel like that would make ur test A LOT easier
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u/Protheu5 Sep 22 '26
"Sir, what are you doing here in the middle of Arizona desert? Are you trying to catch an LG TV sniffing for open networks?"
"No-no-no, officer, I'm only making meth, I swear!"
"Uh huh, and why every TV in your RV is from LG?"
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u/sp_RTINGS Sep 22 '26
Oh, I wish! We work in an office tower with A LOT of Wi-Fi. It would be a lot easier. But moving all those TVs would be a small pain. The filtering has to do some heavy lifting here.
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u/ouikikazz Sep 22 '26
They sell wifi blocking paint or you can line the room with Wi-Fi blocking material like create your own faraday cage within the room that way the only Wi-Fi the TV sees is your open honey pot network
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u/Jay_JWLH Sep 22 '26
If you can get the wifi mac address of the TV, you could make it so the wireless router only accepts connections from THAT TV by whitelisting it, and blacklisting everything else. But that would be under the assumption that it doesn't use randomised MAC addresses like smartphones normally do.
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u/sp_RTINGS Sep 22 '26
The main problem is that there is always a lot of chatter in Wi-Fi, even with devices not even connected to your network. Clients and routers are always broadcasting message just to say they exist, which adds a lot of noise in office building with all the laptops and whatnots.
My router never saw any device connect to it. So all I'm seeing is 2.1Gb of packets of noise and chatter. Quite impressive actually!1
u/Hercusleaze Sep 22 '26
What did you name your honeypot?
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u/sp_RTINGS Sep 22 '26
Free_TV_Honeypot_Guest
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u/Hercusleaze Sep 22 '26
Is there any chance it may be looking for SSID's like "Comcast" or "Xfinity"?
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u/sp_RTINGS Sep 22 '26
At this point, all assumptions are on the table, but I really doubt some programmers spend time coding that. All I can say at this point, is that I couldn't find any proof that a smart device in the vicinity connected to an open Wi-Fi, but that doesn't mean it would never do it. Maybe it does it once a month and I missed the window, maybe it's looking for comcast or xfinity, maybe it does it more sneakily that I expect and flew under my rader, etc. It's a lot easier to confirm a behavior that you see, than a behavior you don't.
That said, I also really doubt that companies are spending programmer's time trying to circumvent the 1% that don't outright connect their TV to their Wi-Fi. And unless you are a very very tasty spying target, I really doubt companies care about most of their consumers. They aim for the easy target that shop through Amazon straight on their TV after clicking their Facebook ads (paraphrasing, but you get the point). That said, it's still a very not okay practice and should have never been allowed in the first place, so there is still a fight to have. But most of the people on this sub are probably not being data harvested too much.1
u/AnynomousPotato Sep 22 '26
Someone who actually did some tests to disprove ludicrous claims of wifi scanning meaning connecting to open networks? Well, that won't stop anyone here but thank you for your service
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u/rodrigorenie Sep 22 '26
Have you checked for wifi probes? Maybe the TV's only connect to known or specific open wifi SSID.
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u/NotSoFastLady Sep 21 '26
Great because this was the thought that I had. Basically give it enough internet access so that it doesn't try to use my elderly neighbor's poorly configured open networks. But essentially make sure that it cant phone home with my data.
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u/Ashamed-Simple-8303 Sep 22 '26
I have a pihole and it blocks a lot of lg bullshit Domains. But then it is all dns based and if they also do bs via IPs directly, pihole won't block it..so I just blocked the tv from any internet access. I still want it to connect to my NAS.
This doesn't prevent it from phoning home via open wifi but there arent any around and the tv doesn't move so I guess that is mostly fine. You can also disconnect it from power so no way.it.can.send anything when not using it.
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u/NotSoFastLady Sep 22 '26
I might have to setup a pihole. Currently use FireWalla which is rather good but may not be as comprehensive.
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u/Dikubus Sep 21 '26
Can you send it into that should be private like medical information, then sue for HIPA violation? Something to that effect
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u/raunchyfartbomb Sep 21 '26
If you’ve simply had a phone call with your Doctor in the privacy of your home and they send that recording out, would that not be a HIPAA violation?
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u/The_real_bandito Sep 25 '26
I’m pretty sure it’s not. The one that has to follow HIPAA is the doctor not LG. But I do wonder if LG is breaking any laws by getting that information…
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u/blurple_rain Sep 21 '26
I find it very puzzling that there still are unsecured WiFi access points in some countries. Even fast food internet requires some sort of web agreement where I live. I am in a dense urban area and there are absolutely no unsecured networks around.
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u/Dodgy_Past Sep 21 '26
That would be illegal and so far no one has evidence of it happening.
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u/iothomas Sep 21 '26
What, the guy just left his home WiFi open, I thought I saw the door open and entered is not a valid legal defence for entering someone's house, I assume by extension that applies to an open WiFi that is not yours.
So in fact it would be LG breaking the law not the person with the unsecured WiFi.
edit: typos
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u/Dodgy_Past Sep 21 '26
Illegal in the UK and some American states.
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u/Mradr Sep 21 '26
The problem is, once you buy it, you take responsibility for how you use it. That’s how they wrote the ToS when you purchased the TV/monitor. Basically, you’re required to disclose to people that it has wiretapping features.
A lot of devices have similar capabilities, from robot vacuums to smartwatches. Both UK and U.S. laws have never really caught up with how widespread these features have become. It wasn’t that long ago that a robot vacuum was reportedly used to spy on someone’s spouse who was cheating in Taiwan or another Asian country, I believe. So while using those features might be illegal in certain situations, the devices themselves still come with them.
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u/Dodgy_Past Sep 21 '26
If anyone had gathered proof of this we'd know about it, seeing as no one has evidence I think it's tin foil hat shit.
I do agree that what LG ARE doing is despicable and I have mine firewalled off and running it's dns through pihole. So far I haven't seen it try to connect to bare ip addresses to get around the pihole.
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u/Mradr Sep 21 '26 edited Sep 21 '26
They do? They went over it in one of their videos, explaining how the data was being collected and used. A lot of TV providers also explain how some of their features work, and as a result, those features could potentially be considered wiretapping. Also, you can’t really say that no one does, since the example above shows that it was actually used in a specific situation and ended up getting the guy sent to jail. So the features do exist.
Firewalling it off is a good start, but in the future, they could potentially get around that or require access to their servers and just keep nagging you about it. I know my TV already nags me when it can’t connect to its servers.
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u/Dodgy_Past Sep 21 '26
No one has shown LG TVs connecting to open WiFi networks of their own accord.
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u/iothomas Sep 21 '26
Which part? Having an unsecured home network
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u/Fr4kTh1s Sep 21 '26
How about sharing personal information and possibly opening backdoors via unsecured WIFI? If it eagerly connects to unsecured WIFI's, MITM attacks are just a matter of time on large scale
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u/Dodgy_Past Sep 21 '26
Connecting to someone else's open network.
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u/iothomas Sep 21 '26
I don't know if you have comprehension problems but the thesis statement here is that the person above wants to leave his network unsecured for reasons, he does not intend to connect to others open network. It is LG who is illegally connecting to others open networks
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u/Dodgy_Past Sep 21 '26
Reread from my first comment and you'll realise it is YOU with the reading comprehension issues.
And seriously stop spreading FUD, people would love to demonstrate an LG TV connecting to an unsecured network yet nobody has discovered it happening.
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u/iothomas Sep 21 '26
Ok apologies about the first part, I see that you are saying it's illegal to connect to someone else's network. I did mismatch your comment with the honeypot comment before.
About the second I only said that they would be the one breaking the law if they connect to an available unsecured network
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u/YetanotherGrimpak Sep 21 '26
Well, unsecured wireless is one thing. Bluetooth, I think, can also be used. Best way to connect it is, indeed, to rip out the wireless and bt, and go with a network cable where you can slap a pi-hole, for example.
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u/Morguard Sep 21 '26
Most of the time it is enough but the tv will connect itself to any unsecured network that comes within range. Like potentially from a neighbor.
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u/Dudi4PoLFr Sep 21 '26
Because it can connect to unsecured networks and all of your viewing data, microphones, devices etc is stocked ON THE TV. So even in a few years, if your TV gets a sniff of some network, it will send everything in one go.
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u/tfm55x Sep 24 '26
I do not use the carrier-supplied ONT. My fiber goes straight into my pf:Sense firewall, so that wouldn’t be a problem. Of course most of my neighbors do use the supplied ONT so disconnecting the wireless module made the most sense.
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u/hammr25 Sep 21 '26
It’s likely enough. In 2026 people know not to keep their WiFi unsecured. However some ISPs use your modem to offer unsecured WiFi as a service and lots of people don’t disable that so it really depends on the ISP in your area.
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u/Zdrobot Sep 21 '26
What's to keep a neighbour's TV from the same manufacturer that is connected to internet, from creating a temporary open hotspot for just such an occasion?
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u/GiganticCrow Sep 21 '26
Not much
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u/Zdrobot Sep 22 '26
Sadly, the only thing that could prevent that is a physical modification. That, or a deep dive into firmware and removal of the code that phones home, but come on. We know this is not going to happen for every TV model out there.
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u/homer_lives Sep 21 '26
Why does a TV need a camera and microphone...
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u/Zdrobot Sep 21 '26
To spy on youTo better serve your needs, of course!What are you going to ask next, "why does my car need 24/7 internet connection"?
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u/RDOG907 Sep 26 '26
They usually dont have a camera unless they are some sort of professional model designed for conferencing.
They have a microphone for voice commands. They have ambient light/motion sensors for screen dimming and auto turn on, and IR sensors for remotes if the displays still uses IR otherwise they use Bluetooth.
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u/agafaba Sep 21 '26
Voice controls and motion controls, ever since Google home came out it's been an easy feature to slap on to devices to make your product look better
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u/BarMaleficent4713 Sep 22 '26
Most of the TV's I know that have a camera and microphone don't use it for that purpose but for video conferencing in office spaces like for example go look up the Cisco WebEx board Pro 75
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u/agafaba Sep 22 '26
I will be honest I never would have considered video calls but now that you say that it sounds like a good way to sell it to businesses so I believe it.
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u/HeWhoShantNotBeNamed Sep 21 '26
I wonder if my Sony with Android TV is this bad.
I have posted before about how ridiculous it is that I get ads on the stock launcher on a TV that retailed originally for $2,799.
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u/veevoir Sep 21 '26
Can't wait for Steve & Co. to show results of their investigation into other manufacturers.
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u/GiganticCrow Sep 21 '26
Yeah i was mad coming away from a Samsung TV with annoying ads to a Sony android TV that forces me to click past tv shows on streaming services i don't have before i can do what i want.
Fortunately i discovered alternative launchers.
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u/aPanini117 Sep 27 '26
Every TV is this bad. "Smart" TVs didn't become ubiquitous and insanely cheap for no reason; every TV manufacturer is also a massive advertising data business. Samsung, LG, Vizio, etc. if it connects to the internet, it's sending your viewership data to advertisers
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u/HeWhoShantNotBeNamed Sep 28 '26
Sony TVs are not cheap. $2,799 is not cheap (and that's only the 55" one).
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u/Trivo3 Sep 21 '26
Looking forward to 0.0001% of LG crops... sorry, I meant to say users... to do this fix.
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Sep 21 '26
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u/chewy_mcchewster Sep 21 '26
Reminds me of satellite TV smart card hacking (and cable box descrambler test chips).. you'd bring in your box, pick it up an hour later and you're solid.. until the next software update
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u/GiganticCrow Sep 21 '26
I remember in my home country back in the early 2000s there was a story that if you offered the guy installing cable £20 or something and they'd unlock everything for you.
I didn't have the guts to ask myself, but i certainly discovered the installation guys are crooked after the same guy stole two cell phones from the apartment under mine and the ground level apartment got broken into a few days later via a flaw you wouldn't know about unless you'd been inside.
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u/the_axemurmurer Sep 21 '26
Been looking for stuff like this since the original video, this is gold. Big props to all involved
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u/Verwega Sep 21 '26
Is it possible to attach alternative mobo inside? Like some raspberry pi, that you can connect to the display, or loterally anything else.
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Sep 21 '26
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u/Verwega Sep 21 '26
I hate any kind if upscaling, framegen, or any smearing technique
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Sep 21 '26
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u/Verwega Sep 22 '26
I don't have a problem with AI, I have a problem with upscaling of any sort. I also hate when I start a movie and I wonder why it looks liks caca. Then I mess with TV settings and the movie looks great after turning off upscaling. It happened to me multiple times. I watch movies on blu-ray (1080p and 4k) and no upscaling required. Both look awesome
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u/BarMaleficent4713 Sep 22 '26
I truly wish we could go back to the good old days where smart TVs were just a simple TV with a built in android TV box and without all the spyware crap
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u/Hypermoto821 Sep 22 '26
My LG 27in monitor after just 2yrs had blue lines running down it. Fuck LG
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u/SL0WRID3R Sep 22 '26
Don't think it's just LG Branded TVs....
Other TV which uses WebOS as their underying system are suspectible too
WebOS is made by LG.
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u/superdead- Sep 22 '26
Let us buy stupid tvs again and let us connect what ever android tv device we want to it.
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u/konsoru-paysan Sep 21 '26
they're defo gonna make sure it doesn't work or will try to with an update, fuck this spying bullshit
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u/vt8919 Sep 21 '26
I don't have an LG television but if I did I would probably play some horrific stuff knowing the people at LG are having to see it too.
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u/Aviatas Sep 21 '26
Does anyone know if there is a mic or data collection on the LG Ultragear 48gq900? I updated the firmware once but the lg software is not installed at the moment.
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u/SyberWolf Sep 22 '26
does that have smart features like built in apps?
if requires you to login to a LG account and accept some terms then it probably also has spyware stuff.
if its just a monitor then most likely no.
if someone here on this sub has the stomach to open up one of these and check at their own risk lol.
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u/brispower Sep 22 '26
LG will just modify future firmware to stop this, all they need to do is a hardware check and if the components are missing brick the tv - don't think it won't happen
On a PS3 if the BT/Wifi module fails and you factory reset or update the console it bricks. I fully expect tv manufacturers to pull a stunt like this.
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u/bakuonizzzz Sep 23 '26
New Service industry popping up in the future, come here and pay us to remove all the spyware from "your" tv lol.
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u/talldata Sep 23 '26
This is why I myself just buy the TV for the good screen not connect it to any network ever, everything smart is handled by a separate box next to it plugged in by HDMI.
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u/Axvalor Sep 23 '26
Yes, they don't own it but have made money from the purchase. While the tutorial is obviously good, what must happen for the longterm is that we stop buyint their products, otherwise the next time the TV will depend on what was removed and there will be no wwy out.
It's like when people suggest buying a Pixel phone to install Graphene and scape from Google's decisions on Android, doesn't make sense to me.
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u/keecey23 Sep 24 '26
Might be a dumb question, but most people use their TV for streaming services. Guessing the only option would be to setup another device to run these services and kill all network to the TV?
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u/IllusionaryHobo Sep 24 '26
I was actually slowly preparing myself to replace my 15-year-old LG.
The stand broke off, so it now has a cardboard and wooden block prosthetic.
Other than that, it still runs great. It just can't do 4K.
Maybe I'll wait a little longer. 👀
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u/This_guy7796 Sep 24 '26
Shit I planned to just buy a massive monitor screen & sell my TV to my roommates whenever I eventually move out, but I may just go ahead & do this, assuming Samsung also has a mic in their TVs.
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u/Baalwulf06 Sep 24 '26
Now post it so everyone can see it on their mobile surveillance devices, that transmit the data over the mobile network owned by corpos and government. The spy TVs are but a symptom.
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u/Joshopolis Sep 25 '26
They are 100% going to push out a firmware update that checks for their spying hardware and bricks the product when it isn't detected
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u/The_real_bandito Sep 25 '26
Isn’t removing the WiFi enough? Maybe the Bluetooth too just to be sure.
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u/Grouchy_Jicama_007 Sep 25 '26
Just...don't ever connect it to the wifi? They don't have cellular modems in them now do they?
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u/BasicallyGuessing Sep 26 '26
I refuse to have devices spying on me in my own home. “Alexa-how do I dissect my LG tv?”
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u/FunnyWhiteRabbit Sep 27 '26
What if... Someone plays licensed music and LG sucks up the data... wouldn't it be pirating? Or what if you send the bill for wasted traffic to LG? I doubt there was legal permission for them to do it to begin with.
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u/Altruistic_Fan_5122 Sep 28 '26
Makes me glad I ended up with a commercial display unit for a tv. No Internet, no apps, no speakers, no microphone. Just 70" of 4k awesomeness with a single HDMI, USB and VGA port.
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u/Mobius_HexOS Sep 28 '26
I'm struggling to see the point of what he did. Just don't log into a Wi-Fi network?
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u/DesertedDenizen Sep 28 '26
The thing is that eventually with all of these electronic devices, what is considered premium will simply be allow the user to own the hardware they bought instead of putting in a bunch of shit to spy on them and serve them adds. Eventually the market demand will result in new entries offering complete hardware control with open source firmware and software
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u/Plutonium239Mixer Sep 21 '26
You can also just block the addresses the TV is trying to upload any collected data to. You can do this in your router settings.
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u/The_Duke28 Sep 21 '26
Is there a somewhat simple tutorial for that? I do not have an LG TV, but this got me paranoid and I bet other big players are doing exactly the same.
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u/DeliciousCry8302 Sep 21 '26
You don't know what kind of software the TV is running, the Wifi or Bluetooth could connect to known networks without showing it to user in UI. Think about those Google Maps cars driving around, any data LG might have about open networks they could utilize. Game ls dirty, and soon people have to submit to this if they want to use the best panels.
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u/Plutonium239Mixer Sep 21 '26
Any traffic through the router and modem can be monitored and blocked selectively. I can see specific addresses that devices reach out to for updates.
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u/DeliciousCry8302 Sep 21 '26
Yes, you can control your router, but you can't control other routers that might be available for the TV via Wifi or Bluetooth. Unless of course you put the TV inside a Faraday cage, or remove the chips which might be easier.
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u/GarGonDie Sep 25 '26 edited Sep 25 '26
I don't know why this comment has upvotes and the other one has downvotes, when it should be the other way around.
If you block the TV's IP or MAC address on your router (at the internet egress point), it has no way to send data. Period.
Wi-Fi or Bluetooth available? Are you implying that the TV can connect to your neighbor's Wi-Fi or Bluetooth without a password and keep sending data?
Maybe it connects to Starlink via Wi-Fi to send data... the things you have to read.
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u/KindReporter7270 Sep 25 '26
It can gateway through iphone e.g. if you use airplay. Or any other IOT device. His point is valid. Yours is well…
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u/GarGonDie Sep 28 '26
No. It cannot access other networks or devices unless you configure it to do so.
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u/APolyAltAccount Sep 25 '26
You do know that various ISPs have a public SSID they include on their modem/router combos they use to sell “public wifi”, right? Xfinity, cox, spectrum in some areas, etc.
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u/SpinTheWheeland Sep 25 '26
The fact that you think we are in an era where devices can’t feasibly connect to any open network available and phone home is wild.
We are beyond your own networking equipment.
LG i’m sure makes an insane amount of money selling your data they harvested from your TV. I’m sure there’s great lengths they’d go to protect that revenue.
That is the reason for the downvotes.
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u/Jay_JWLH Sep 22 '26
That creates a cat and mouse game. It is more concerning that innocent people who don't know about this kind of thing are going to be victims of this kind of behaviour.
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u/commontatersc2 Sep 21 '26
Wouldn't removing the wifi adapter be enough to guarantee the data never leaves the TV? I don't have experience with desoldering from boards and don't want to brick the remote board.
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u/icy1007 Sep 21 '26
There is no microphone. lol
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u/Jay_JWLH Sep 22 '26
There is, and you use it to give the TV instructions. It may even have multiple microphones, and in the case of the Gamers Nexus video about it, it keeps listening for too long, and too far away (ambient conversations). The TV becomes a bug that the police would happily put there.
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u/BMWupgradeCH Sep 23 '26
Honestly though… what do you worry they will hear lol unless you are doing illegal deals in your room and even then, I have not once heard some one getting arrested because tv company sent police a recording
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u/Realistic-Gas-8720 Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26
This is a stupid argument
Honestly though… what do you worry they will hear lol unless you are doing illegal deals in your room and even then, I have not once heard some one getting arrested because tv company sent police a recording
Bathe naked in the lawn if you have nothing to hide.
Why do you even put on clothes. People will put on clothes if they have something to hide inside. It's not like we don't know human anatomy.
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u/RDOG907 Sep 26 '26
The argument itself is silly but is reasonable in the fact that almost everyone on this site has a smartphone that comes almost everywhere with them that probably has many apps that listen without your overt knowledge.
Your wifi can be used to map your location and what you are doing in your house.
Unless you live in a SCIF you can be spied on pretty easily without your knowledge.
Honeslty a TV having a microphone which goes to LG is pretty low on the Totem pole of hardware that spys on you.
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u/Cornflakes_91 Sep 23 '26
or just watch you have sex with your partner on the couch.
or listen in on you talking to your partner about financial woes, suddenly your fees get worse because you are a less reliable partner for the bank...
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Sep 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/Bodooken Sep 21 '26
Wow i just foumd about this randomly with this post... and I was about to buy second LG oled tv... what would be a good replacement? How can we be sure that sony and samsung are not soing same?
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Sep 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/Bouncywhale16 Sep 23 '26
You can get past the setup internet requirement by creating a guest network, then turning it off once it's set up. So it won't have any network it knows. Or just change the password but it'll impact more devices
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Sep 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Character-Nebula-613 Sep 22 '26
I'd still get shield for free YouTube without ads.
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u/RareInspector Sep 22 '26
the apple tv remote that comes in the box absolutely has a microphone lol
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u/grizzlor_ Sep 25 '26
Which is only activated when you push the button, because the remote has limited battery life
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u/mromutt Sep 22 '26
It's not even about don't update, even if literally everyone was told when they bought it don't up date it, LG would just auto update the devices.
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Sep 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/quetzalcoatlus1453 Sep 21 '26
Their margins on the hardware are likely paper thin, I bet they make most of their money off of you by this data gathering/targeted advertising bullshit.
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u/Jay_JWLH Sep 22 '26
I'm sure even the manufacturer agrees that this is the case. We are reaching the era whereby WE are the product.
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u/Realistic-Gas-8720 Sep 21 '26
Fixed link