Why I don’t want a “smart” TV. Well, one reason…

h/t +LWN.net 

LG Smart TVs logging USB filenames and viewing info to LG servers

Michael K Johnson November 21, 2013 11:08

LG have announced that they are sorry that they were caught ignoring the opt out, and that stealing the file names on attached storage is a feature you should want.

This kind of lackluster corporate response demonstrates a general lack of responsible handling of private data, not an isolated mistake by lower level people.

Something to keep in mind when choosing anything with a connected computer inside it. Which, these days, is almost anything.

I’ll certainly keep this in mind when considering my next cell phone purchase.

Eugene Crosser November 21, 2013 12:42

The situation is perhaps better in cellphones nowadays than elsewhere. In many cases you can run a system that is mostly opensource, with as much proprietary stuff added as you are prepared to keep. In extreme case, plain AOSP without google services.

Michael K Johnson November 21, 2013 14:03

+Eugene Crosser Nice dream… But it’s not reality in any meaningful way. Not the first time I’ve seen this pointed out, but a recent and particularly clear writeup is at: http://www.osnews.com/story/27416/The_second_operating_system_hiding_in_every_mobile_phone

Pay close attention to this point:

Lastly, the baseband processor is usually the master processor, whereas the application processor (which runs the mobile operating system) is the slave.

Eugene Crosser November 21, 2013 14:25

+Michael K Johnson there is of course a theoretical possibility that some nastiness lurks inside the baseband processor, but realistic danger to the user’s privacy is in the “normal” apps sneakily included in the vendor’s android image. And from that one is perfectly capable to defend himself.

Imported from Google+ — content and formatting may not be reliable