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Comment by ThePhysicist | Hacker News Reader

If you're worried about privacy just don't connect it to the Internet and buy a smart TV stick of your choice instead that you plug into the HDMI port of the TV (or use a Raspberry Pi if you don't trust those either). Problem solved.

Probably 99 % of people are fine with owning a smart TV, so it's clear that manufacturers won't cater to the 1 % that are not fine with it.

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People have reported smart TVs connecting to open wifi when they aren't manually connected.

I keep seeing this mentioned, but no one ever refers to a specific brand that has been observed doing this. It's plausible, but who’s doing it?

Just open the case and disconnect the wifi antenna or, in the case of a PCB etched antenna, apply X-acto blade.

See! It's opt-in.

Perfectly valid solution, and it gets downvoted on Hacker News...

To be fair, I don’t think most people would consider a solution that voids the warranty on an expensive TV valid...

Hacking used to be about modifying your hardware.

Smart TVs are relatively cheap compared to large industrial displays. They are also reliable. If you need large secure (no wifi) display, this is pefectly valid option.

The implication is that this isn't a problem that can't be solved, and thus stronger remedies are unnecessary. There might be some who disagree.

Pretty sure you’re being sarcastic saying that’s a valid thing to expect end users to do to opt out. And I agree. Wish mining peoples privacy wasn’t accepted norm.

If you have to take action for it not to do something, it's opt-out, not opt-in.

“Disabling Wireless Signals from Samsung Smart TV“ https://emfaction.userecho.com/en/communities/1/topics/124-d...

Or just don't buy Samsung TVs. Their UI's are crap even for the "dumb" functions.

He's not doing that because the TV is connecting to wifi, he's concerned about "wifi radiation" - sigh.

There are more legitimate reasons. If you are one of the few people who live in a radio quiet zone, or if you suspect 2.4GHz interference with other 2.4GHz radios you use, or if you develop and test RF gear, you'd want to be able to disable the radio.

Not sure if this is more or less extreme option, but you could put the TV in a Faraday cage, or build a Faraday cage into your walls.

Until there is some proof of this it's all hearsay.

Cover your house in tinfoil you dingus!

All smart TVs have WiFi capabilities and could potentially connect to any open network.

I cannot find it on my phone right now but I remember somebody catching their smart TV actually doing exactly that. Maybe somebody else has a link.

There's a thread on Reddit [1] but the poster never replied when people asked about the exact model and no one else reported this behavior, so I'm skeptical (I own a Samsung smart TV and from my experience it always asks you before attempting to connect to any wifi network). From the manufacturers' point of view it wouldn't make much sense auto-connecting to an arbitrary open network as that will in many cases just lead to an unusable connection, so I have a hard time believing Samsung would actually do this. What's more likely is that someone else (spouse, kid) used the TV, selected an open wifi and the TV saved that without OP knowing. But who knows, maybe Samsung is really after us.

Anyway, if you're so worried about the device maker spying on you it's probably best to avoid buying such a device (or any kind of smart device including a smartphone). In that case just use a monitor instead.

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/bpr6xs/if_you_choo...

Here is a hn user saying that, albeit without any verification: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21010777

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