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Comment by FullMtlAlcoholc | Hacker News Reader

This is why i torrent behind a VPN despite being subscribed to HBO now, Netflix, and Amazon Video. My guilt is ameliorated and at least a sliver of ny privacy is maintained.

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You misunderstand how it works. This worked by fingerprinting audio and video at the TV display level, it's not part of the networking layer. If your content was shown on the TV you could be tracked regardless of source.

Thanks and noted. If I ever end up getting a SmartTV (due to dumb TV's no longer being sold), it's never getting on my network and going to be banned at the mac address level.

It needs to be physically disconnected or on a network without Internet connection. The Mac address is the easiest to spoof. If it has any kind of radio like WiFi you need to de-solder it, as the data could be collected by a car driving by, or via your neighborers Wifi.

> as the data could be collected by a car driving by, or via your neighborers Wifi.

What?

How is it going to connect to your neighbours wifi? How is someone driving past going to connect to your TV? Is the TV going to set itself up as an access point?

I'm completely behind not connecting random devices in my house to the internet but suggesting they are somehow trying to get data out by connecting to random networks or will just broadcast it for anyone to hear is a bit much.

The neighbours might have an access point without a password. But I think if the vendor is really interested in collecting personal data he could just install a GSM modem with a prepaid SIM card inside so that the device doesn't depend on Internet connection.

Multiple compromised nodes working together to identify you.

We already see this with things like ultrasonic communication. A compromised (has sketchy app installed) phone could, for example, communicate with your television or computer speakers and mic via ultrasonic frequencies to determine what ads you have seen, or what digital streaming content you are consuming.

An app could take it even a step further and use a root exploit and secretly take a short recording every 10 minutes or so to relay to someone who wants to know what song or movie you were consuming.

This isn't just possible, things like this have already been found in the wild.

And you can bet your bottom dollar these snaky companies would keep their mouths shut under a NSL if it meant they could keep tracking you.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/11/ads_surreptit...

It doesn't even require anything that complex. If I remember correctly, even if your smartphone never connects to wifi AP's, while thhe WiFi radio is on, it does periodically scan for AP's in the area while either surrendering some identifiable information or establishing a pattern that can be used to identify you.

Frak it, TV is going in a Faraday cage

Get a projector a and a dozen or two bulbs and prepare for the technological winter.

I think the parent is being purposefully hyperbolic ... however, a router manufacturer could have a ghost APs that domestic goods could try to send via. It perhaps wouldn't be the weirdest invasion of consumer privacy story either.

In the UK nearly everywhere send to have a BT WiFi signal as they give out routers with a commercial side-channel that anyone can pay to access. If your smart device had access to BT WiFi they'd get a signal out in many places regardless of whether the TV owner had WiFi.

/EvilGenius

If they really wanted to collect the data, they could make the TV auto connect to certain SSID's or any open WiFi.

Also lookup smart water meters, that can be read by driving by.

I thought Netflix and related services work the same way Spotify does: they pay content providers a small fee based on actual content viewing. If you pay Netflix a monthly subscription but never view any content on your account, I would assume Netflix keeps all of the revenue and doesn't pay out anything to the actual content providers. Just a guess, but it's possible your plan is backfiring by paying the company you don't want to support (since Netflix is the one implementing the tracking) instead of the companies you do (that actually create the content you like).

Netflix also makes a lot of their own content. If he is pirating that content, then it's fair.

I think Netflix greenlights 3rd party content creator's projects, I'm not sure they have much if any in-house production.

Those deals probably include some combination of up-front payment as well as per-view payment.

Spotify, at least, pools all payments before paying royalties.

So his strategy does increase royalty payments, but doesn't "vote" for who should receive those royalties.

Actually no, in contrast to Spotify, they generally secure licenses for content for a flat fee and a 1-3 year time frame. It doesn't matter how much content is actually viewed, other than Netflix deciding whether it's worth trying to renew or not.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/062515/how-ne...

No - as a general rule, Netflix pays a fixed royalty for the content that they license from third parties, regardless of how many people watch it. This is why the quality of their predictive models is so important; the better they can forecast, the better they can determine whether the price they would have to pay is worth it.

(Of course, the royalty is different for every piece of content, but the amount is negotiated ahead of time; it is not on a per-usage basis.)

This is different from iTunes movies, Amazon (non-Prime) Video, Vudu, Google Play, etc., which license on a revenue share basis.

> your plan is backfiring by paying the company you don't want to support (since Netflix is the one implementing the tracking) instead of the companies you do (that actually create the content you like).

TBH, that's for too deep for my moral calculus. The only things I view/pirate from Netflix are Netflix original series and PBS documentaries/educational programs. I'm paying the former directly and the latter isn't really out to maximize profit but to enlighten and educate and it's somewhat supported by my tax dollars.

I'm amazed you can access Netflix behind a VPN.

I don't access Netflix, kind of the whole point :)

Whhen I do use Netflix it's through my PS4.

Why not, when you are abroad it is kinda the only way you can watch many of the content that is not available in other countries. Even subtitles are not available in English in some countries like Sweden.

Because Netflix blocks VPNs since a few months. It's really hard to find a vpn that works with netflix. Even setting up your own won't work, most ip ranges that are used by data centres are blocked by default.

He said he pays for Netflix, but torrents on a VPN.

That's a bingo!

Heck if your using a tunnel broker for ipv6, it thinks your using a vpn, sigh.

That sort of makes sense, given that is also punching through the geoblock.

I understand that, but I'm using an endpoint in the same physical area my actual internet connection is (NoVA).

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