Don't plug in the Ethernet or give it your wifi password and even the smartest TV gets dumb really fast. I'm actually going to be plugging mine in soon (only for a little while) just to see who/where it's sending data.
Same with a car: don't let it connect via wifi. If it has a cell modem, cancel the service plan. In the unlikely event that there's no plan to cancel, 'mod' it with wire cutters and/or a dremel. (of course this assumes that you own the vehicle rather than lease it)
SoC devices with built-in LTS/etc cellular support have been available for several years. The only thing stopping a TV from bypassing your LAN is negotiating some sort of cheap bulk-rate, off-peak with the carriers.
Sure, but even with a bulk rate is it economically worth it for them to do so? My understanding is that the current trend in massive data collection has been viable because they've externalized significant costs (i.e. consumers paying for devices and data.) If the company collecting it has to start footing the bill for the data plan, does it still work for most of them? I don't doubt this will change over the long term but am skeptical that it will be in the next 10 years at least... would love to hear if I'm wrong on this. If it does, then I suppose the way to go would be the hardware hack: snip off/ground/shield the antenna or otherwise disrupt/jam it...
It's only a matter of time before "smart" TV manufacturers work out a deal with Comcast to use their wifi hotspots, or install 4G connectivity and have their televisions automatically connect with no option for the "owner" to disable it.
I sincerely hate everything the "tech" industry has done to society over the past 10 years or so.
Depending on who you ask, my 2016-ish Sony is slower or faster depending on if you don't or do connect it to the Internet. A lot of the video processing seems to be done by Mediatek APIs. I'm not sure I'd retain HDR if I was able to disable the "smart" component completely.
$1000 TV, $5 SoC from 3 years ago. The last Android update they did was to add more advertising to it!
blihp, what I would say if you have an Android TV is see if you can install your own SSL certificates before you connect it. Lots of services are using SSL so you may only be able to pull netflow-style data from it. Also worth seeing if adb is listening on the network or on one of the USB ports.
Yeah, they're getting sneaky about adding 'features' that don't work if they're not connected yet have no actual need to be connected in order to implement them.
Mine isn't Android TV (though I suppose it's possible it's running some Android variant rather than just a custom Linux build behind the scenes... I'll check that out)... it's a Roku/Netflix TV. So my plan is to put it behind an OpenWRT router and at the very least isolate and monitor the traffic if I'm not easily able to MITM it. If I find anything interesting I'll probably throw up a YouTube video so Google can further build up its profile about me while I attempt to figure out how someone else is attempting to build up a profile about me. The game of cat and mouse continues... (not sure which I am most days)
> I hope you'll be able to find one. Finding a decent TV that isn't "smart" is pretty difficult.
If you don't want a smart TV you should by a "professional display" (I don't remember the exact term). They're almost exactly like a normal flat-screen, except their designed for always-on operation an lack all the "smart" crap.
Just buy a used one - in 10 years today's 4g networks will be turned off and 5g on the way out. In theory your Lincoln is still connected, but in practice there is nothing for it to connect to.
