User Alleges LG TVs Phone Home With Your Viewing Habits 286
psychonaut writes "Blogger DoctorBeet discovered that his new LG television was surreptitiously sending information about his TV viewing habits, as well as the names of the files he watched on removable media, to LG's servers. There is an undocumented setting in the TV configuration which supposedly disables this behaviour, but an inspection of the network traffic between the TV and the Internet showed that the TV continues to send the data whether or not the setting is disabled. DoctorBeet contacted LG, but they shrugged the matter off, saying that it's a matter between him and the retailer he bought the TV from."
Re:I used to think totalitarianism came from above (Score:2, Interesting)
No, it comes from corporations, by way of any method that might maximize profits. There should be rules against what LG is doing here if this pans out. Rules put in place by the government. And there might in fact be, however that's a matter for the courts since it was probably documented in the owners manual or when you agreed to view content online.
That being said, this is disappointing to hear about LG. Thought they were the last reputable TV maker out there. If this does pan out, I hope there bottom line takes a massive hit, and Streissand is unkind in her effect.
No encryption? (Score:5, Interesting)
If I were to build a TV that spied on my customers, I would at least encrypt the traffic. By not encrypting the traffic, this opens up the possibility of a user getting revenge by posting misleading data or even something as evil as an XML bomb. Dumb move by LG.
Hardware Firewall (Score:3, Interesting)
So, does his TV connect to the internet via a cable modem? Perhaps it's time for someone to market a hardware firewall that you can place between your cable modem and your router to monitor and filter all of your inbound and outbound traffic. I suppose that some routers let you do this. I have an Airport Extreme and it does not give you access to any logs (suggestions as hoe to do this would be welcome).
Who is surprised by this? (Score:4, Interesting)
I think nobody should be surprised.
Once a company gets a network connection to what you do, they're going to track it, analyze it, and try to figure out how to monetize it. And, if requested, they're going to hand it over to law enforcement.
And this is precisely why I have no interest in having my TV connected to the internet.
The easiest way to avoid stuff like this is to stop giving companies a window into everything you do. Because the reality is, they're going to exploit it whenever they can for their own benefit.
Re:Built-in set top box (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Easy Solution (Score:4, Interesting)
And LG paralyzes your tv when it wants to. (Score:5, Interesting)
LG decided that it needed to update its user agreement and sent an update that paralyzed my TV. It would no long switch between inputs or do anything useful until I clicked their stupid agreement. They even supplied an email address for question about the process onscreen, but nobody ever responded.
I was a good customer for them until that stunt.
Re:it's a matter between him and the retailer (Score:5, Interesting)
In this analogy, it depends on the EULA of the shoes you bought.
What they're saying is "you bought this, and accepted the terms and conditions, if you didn't know that it's your problem and take it up with the retailer who didn't tell you about it".
So, if the EULA for the shoes says you're not allowed to come around and kick their asses, then it was the retailer who was supposed to have told you that. And your desire to go around and kick their asses with said shoes is trumped by the fact that you agreed to it.
To me it's a dodgy legal argument, but since courts keep upholding these licenses which in effect say "by using this device you give us the right to do anything we want to, and whatever we like with the data we collect" -- the legal bullshit says "but you consented to us tracking everything you do, it's not our fault".
So, if in this case the shoes you bought had license terms which said you consent to being tracked, or accept that you're not allowed to kick their asses with said footwear ... then pretty much yes. Apparently it was up to the retailer to tell you what you've agreed to.
Re:What we need.... (Score:4, Interesting)
If that's the case, it should be pretty easy to crap-flood them. Does it even need a be from a TV? I presume the TV reports it's identifcation with a serial number or such. So... make up a few valid serial numbers, and spin up a few AZW instances, and for pennies a day their database could be filled with so much invalid and malformed data that they never crawl out from under it. Also, why is the cheif of police watching so much porn?
Re:it's a matter between him and the retailer (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:it's a matter between him and the retailer (Score:4, Interesting)