• Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
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    142 hours ago

    One way to get Congress to act on this would be to remind them of how Robert Bork’s video rental history got released. They very quickly realized that they all had the same sleazy movies on their rental list and passed a law making it illegal to share them.

    Call your Congressmen and tell them that their smart TV is sending screenshots of whatever they’re watching back to home base, including stuff that’s not streamed, and there might be swift action.

    Better yet, hack Samsung and leak it to the press. That’ll definitely light a fire under them.

  • @PM_Your_Nudes_Please
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    223 hours ago

    I blocked my two TVs from phoning home via my pihole. They are the two noisiest devices on my network, by leaps and bounds.

    On a day of heavy usage, my phone and desktop may get ~2000 blocked requests combined. That’s high, but not unheard of. It just means I did a lot of browsing, with a lot of blocked ad requests. My TVs average somewhere around 7500 blocked requests per day, on days that I haven’t even turned them on. That’s an attempt to phone home every ~12 seconds. And it is much worse on days that I actually use them.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 hour ago

      Maybe i’m stupid, but why would a TV even do that? All it’s know is what you’re watching today, right? How is that information useful? If you’re living with other people, the TV couldn’t even know who’s watching, that would make the data useless.

      • @[email protected]
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        357 minutes ago

        Data mining. They know what you watch, when you don’t and any other habits you have.

        If you have a microphone on your remote or tv, then they also send that data over.

  • @[email protected]
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    164 hours ago

    I’m more than happy to buy a TV that uses post-purchase monetization, because I am never going to connect that fucker to the internet. It’s a display. I shall use it as a display. I do not care that it can replace my streaming box. I fully control my streaming box, and I will use that.

    If I catch it doing any sketchy shit like trying to use unsecured/Comcast/etc WiFi to phone home, it’ll be time to pull out the screwdriver, though.

    • @[email protected]
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      43 hours ago

      What happens when it no longer needs your WiFi and uses something like LoRa to phone home with your data and location? It may not know who you are exactly but it’ll have a good guess.

      • @dtrain
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        43 hours ago

        What happens when it no longer needs your WiFi and uses something like LoRa to phone home with your data and location? It may not know who you are exactly but it’ll have a good guess.

        I mean…what happens when it becomes sentient, sprouts legs and you catch it sleeping with your spouse?

        Let’s deal with the here and now.

        • @[email protected]
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          23 hours ago

          You know LoRa hardware is getting cheaper and the reliability of these TVs are just terrible. This is likely to happen sooner rather than later. For now just don’t plug it in to WiFi unless you’re willing to go further and desolder its module? I don’t think we can do much via legislation other than write to our congressional reps.

    • @[email protected]
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      13 hours ago

      The non-capitalist solutions have been here all along, mostly things licensed under copyleft. But people just need to have the wherewithal to actually use these solutions.

  • @[email protected]
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    12 hours ago

    Don’t forget that if you connect external devices to them, they’re also taking snapshots of the content “so they can serve targeted ads”.

  • bean
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    206 hours ago

    Why do we continue to be ok with this? Where is the outrage and call for change?

    • @A_Random_Idiot
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      215 hours ago

      the overwhelming bulk of humanity cant be fucked to care about shit like this… until it personally affects them.

      Then they will wail like banshees about the great injustice of it all, and how could anyone let it happen to them.

    • @Bytemeister
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      64 hours ago

      It’s there, but people forget about it when they can get a 4" bigger TV for 100 bucks less.

  • @theedqueen
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    44 hours ago

    My current tv is a 42” I got in 2012. I would love to upgrade to a bigger one, but I don’t wanna get a lame smart tv.

    • @[email protected]
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      254 minutes ago

      I’m on the same boat 44" tv, from ages ago. Connected to my linux reinstalled asus chromebox. Freedom baby yeah!

  • @Suavevillain
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    75 hours ago

    My next purchase will be a dumb tv with a media stick.

    • @zik
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      215 hours ago

      Unfortunately it’s very hard to buy a decent dumb TV these days.

      • @[email protected]
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        84 hours ago

        For smart tv, they recommend just never give access to internet. And look if it has some kind of monitor mode so it always launch display on the hdmi port.

        • @yamanii
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          14 hours ago

          They still keep searching for some open wifi to send their stuff through.

          • @na_th_an
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            53 hours ago

            This has never been proven in any way. It would be really easy to show that a smart TV will automatically connect to an open WiFi connection and send data, but nobody has done it.

          • @[email protected]
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            24 hours ago

            I wonder if a software that just generate gibberish data could be made, just to fuck with them.

          • @[email protected]
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            13 hours ago

            Not at all. The better ones are dumb. You have to stay away from cheap chinese drek, of course.

          • @[email protected]
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            13 hours ago

            not the optoma uhd35, it’s the one I have. 4k60fps or 1080p240fps for when I game.

            we have to support the companies that give us what we want, and I voted with my wallet. Im very happy with it

            • @[email protected]
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              151 minutes ago

              Aorus fo48u here. Dumb as fuck, sometimes too dumb (no remote input processing without hdmi signal), but I’d rather have that than a smart monitor with all the bullshit

        • @herrvogel
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          84 hours ago

          Lemme just pluck a 52" monitor from the 52" monitor tree where 52" monitors grow bountifully.

            • @herrvogel
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              131 minutes ago

              I just checked. In the online stores of the 3 largest tech chains in my country, there’s exactly one 16:9 40+" monitor model available, and that’s a 43" VA panel. The other 40+" stuff are weird absurdly wide curved monitors and some smart whiteboard type thing. So forgive me if I am extremely doubtful of your claim.

  • kamen
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    86 hours ago

    What would you guys recommend for a dumb TV with a good quality panel in the 65-75" range that’s a available to buy in the EU? My intention is to hook it up to my own device (probably a mini PC running some Linux distro with Kodi and some other stuff).

    • @[email protected]
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      56 hours ago

      Eizo or iiyama monitors are very good imo. The other use raspberry pi ( or anything else ) + tv card

      • kamen
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        12 hours ago

        Thanks. Anything more specific in mind? I know Eizo for their monitors for colour-critical work and from looking on their site I’m only able to find a 50 something inch model that’s probably very expensive (I think it was in their medical lineup). As for iiyama, they have some 65 and 75" models for e-signage, but they’re running Android.

  • @Darkscryber
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    13 hours ago

    I dumbedcmy smart tv by disconnected it from the internet. The stupid thing is the tv was requesting internet connection to work, so I had to put it on my network and then block everything so the tv pouted and then shut up.

    Now I switch to a Fire tv usb stick on it but god I hate it…

    • @[email protected]
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      228 minutes ago

      the tv was requesting internet connection to work

      What tv is that? Just so I know what to avoid

  • @suckmyspez
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    76 hours ago

    I just use an Apple TV connected to my TV which isn’t connected to any network. I hook it up every now and again to update the software when there are new features available related to picture/sound.

    I also run a Jellyfin server for most of my streaming needs.

  • @Fedizen
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    479 hours ago

    can we just ban online features from tvs, cars, printers, light bulbs etc.

    • @[email protected]
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      127 hours ago

      Cars being online has some tangible benefits in that they can transmit location data to emergency services, especially if the driver is unresponsive. Might save someone from dying in a ditch in the middle of nowhere.

      Arguably, some of the data collected while driving is also very useful for maintenance and development (e.g. if a lot of vehicles start having a similar issue after X miles).

      That said, this data should be limited in scope and use (e.g. must not be sold, especially not to insurance companies), as well as anonymized as much as possible. Which is currently not the case, and that definitely needs regulation.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
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        1 hour ago

        You don’t need a high bandwidth connection to do emergency notifications, and considering it might be in a remote area satellite would be better than LTE.

        For the diagnostics you could log events internally and then collect them with OBD-II readers, though I’d like to force car makers to use open data formats so people can see for themselves what’s collected.

      • @Bytemeister
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        54 hours ago

        That said, this data should be limited in scope and use…

        Yep, anonymized, limited, non-distributable, and secured, with severe penalties (on the order of tens of thousands of dollars per person, paid to the harmed party) for failure to adhere.

    • Quazatron
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      149 hours ago

      That ship, my friend, has already sailed.

      • @doingthestuff
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        127 hours ago

        Civilians used to own canons. For blowing up ships. And the occasional home invader. Doesn’t matter if it has sailed if we sink it. We should sink that ship.

  • @Alchalide
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    14 hours ago

    To dumb your TV, just don’t connect it to the internet. Get a SFF pc or something and use that to watch your series/movies. My TV functions as a monitor.

  • @[email protected]
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    3010 hours ago

    For example, Amazon Web Services and ad-tech company TripleLift are working with proprietary models and machine learning for dynamic product placement in streamed TV shows. The report, citing a 2021 AWS case study, says that “new scenes featuring product exposure can be inserted in real-time ‘without interrupting the viewing experience.’”

    Peacock is also working with TripleLift to develop “In-Scene” Peacock ads that owner NBCUniversal says it’s currently testing:

    When a user plays episodic content, your brand’s product or message is dynamically placed in the frame of targeted scenes, creating a non-interruptive ad experience that aligns the programming with your campaign theme/goals.

    This could be hilarious when your omegaverse softcore porn drama gets plastered with prune juice, old people pill adverts, and trump propaganda on everyone’s shirts, tattoos, jock straps, voice lines and whatever else the AI can scrounge up. “It totally fits with the narrative!”

    • @GlendatheGayWitch
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      56 hours ago

      Kind if reminds me of the scene in The Truman Show when they talk about the cereal to the hidden camera.

    • @[email protected]
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      1910 hours ago

      Am I reading this wrong or are they literally hijacking a shot in the content by placing a product in there?
      Sounds like they could literally go in there and replace the kid watching tele-shopping in a movie with watching a literal ad made to look like it’s genuinley in the movie.

      • @[email protected]
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        146 minutes ago

        It’s exactly that. Detect where there are ads in a scene ( a panel for example) and replace the space with their own ads.

        • @[email protected]
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          121 minutes ago

          Tbh could be worse replacing an ad placement with another (say adidas to nike).
          Personally actually be worse would be replacing an ad relevant to the movie (like an advertisement for the newest tool the protagonist always needed to progress)