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Comment by mikestew | Hacker News Reader

Why? Just don't connect it to the internet.

(Yeah, yeah, when someone actually demos a TV seeking open WiFi APs, then we'll talk. And anyone bringing up ETH over HDMI gets a spankin'.)

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Not good enough. Eventually the grandparents will come to visit. They'll turn on the TV, it will ask them to "finish the setup procedure," they'll type in my wifi password and BOOM! I'm pwned.

That's on you for failing to set expectations for how others you let into your home treat your devices. I can't imagine anyone I know thinking to "finish setting up" something in my home without asking and there would be hell to pay if someone did.

There are reports, including in this thread, of TV models that require a login to proceed during initial setup

That's good that they let you know right out of the box that the TV needs to go back in the box, and back to the store. I mean, c'mon, OP is willing to desolder a board on their brand-new TV, boxing it back up and buying something else shouldn't be much of a barrier.

XFinity has some bullshit where your router provides an AP for other XFinity members.

My understanding is that it uses bandwidth you aren't paying for to carry this signal rather than using up what you paid for, but still it's been there for something going on ten years.

That was the moment I bought my own cable modem instead of using theirs.

I was about to switch carriers anyway, that was the kick in the butt I needed to make the call and schedule an appointment.

Some parts of these organizations are aware that some of their rent comes from inertia. Other parts don't realize that they are providing the impulse to overcome that inertia.

So don't give it your Xfinity creds? My understanding is that Xfinity doesn't let just anyone connect to that network.

You lack imagination, which is a liability in this field.

Not your creds. Nothing stops the manufacturer from making a deal to get an account from XFinity and shipping the creds on the TV. Then they can exfiltrate data from anyone who has an Xfinity repeater anywhere in broadcast range.

Good time to extract the creds from the TV and get free internet.

Imagination is well and good but don't jump to assuming that just because you can imagine something it is already happening now. So far I have seen zero evidence that it is.

I didn’t say it’s happening. It’s a next step that has already been tried by others, though.

IIRC, BT does this in the UK (via the EE Wifi program).

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