It is endlessly frustrating that companies have universally decided that they won’t let people say “no” to stuff, ever. There are no longer options to reject stupid-ass new “features”, only postponement until next time you open the app/website/program. They’ll continue pestering you for the rest of your life. I realize that my frustration may be a little over-zealous, but we deal with these interfaces dozens of times per day and this is user hostile behavior. There isn’t really an option to just use another service or program, since the entire technology landscape has been commandeered by a few major corporations, and they all enact the same shitty things as a group.
My LG television keeps asking to accept terms for voice control. I stand fast in my refusal to accept. There not even an option to say no…sigh…
I DNS blocked my LG TV services because I got tired of being served with paid content which I do not want to see but they give no choice to opt-out of. For example the recommended movies and TV shows from Amazon Prime. I don’t have Amazon and I don’t intend to get it. There should be an option to remove that but you can’t. Same with the sports section.
So now the TV works as it should. It can’t find the source for that content and just hides it.
Get Pi-hole
What domains did you ad to your pihole Blocklist for the LG tv WebOS services you mentioned?
Here is what I’m blocking with some comments on what you lose if you block certain domains. A few domains, I commented out because they would otherwise block some feature I actually wanted to use. If you block all, the TV would work but think it is offline:
Block LG Ads and telemetry #address=/lgtvsdp.com/ address=/lgsmartad.com/
needed for App Store
country based
{country_code}.lgrecommends.lgappstv.com
Blocking all
#address=/lgappstv.com/
address=/edgesuite.net/ #address=/ngfts.lge.com/ address=/yumenetworks.com/ address=/smartclip.com/ address=/smartclip.net/ address=/lgtvcommon.com/ address=/meethue.com/ address=/lgtviot.com/ #address=/lgtvonline.com/
Firmware updates
#address=/snu.lge.com/
address=/kic-ngfts.lge.com/ #address=/kic-gfts.lge.com/ #address=/lgtvonline.lge.com/ address=/sports.gracenote.com/ address=/cjpowercast.com.edgesuite.net/ address=/ueiwsp.com/ #address=/lgsmartplatform.com/ address=/NevoAI-IOTHub-52-Prod.azure-devices.net/ address=/m.media-amazon.com/ #address=/lss.lgthinq.com/ #address=/kic-op-lss.lgthinq.com/
Side effect, blocks LG chat support
#address=/lgeapi.com/
deleted by creator
The LG terms are the same as the Android terms, FYI. So if youve accepted them on your phone, you might as well accept them on your TV. LG uses Google for their voice control. I read the thing when I got my TV and if I remember correctly, they’ll send bits of recordings from when you’re holding the button to Google for processing of the requests. It’s been a long time since I read it though, so they definitely could have changed it. The voice commands are one of my favorite things about our TV. Like if I want to watch John Wick, then I just say that and it shows me each of the services I have available that have that movie. It’s pretty rad. That’s one area where I conceded any privacy concerns for convenience and I really enjoy it.
Google voice is the first thing to get disabled on any Android phone I use. It’s like the biggest invasion of privacy you could imagine outside of agreeing to let them film you on the toilet.