this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2026
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My Samsung tv literally phones home and Netflix 24/7 even when it is off. My “Sniffet” app screams with nothing but Samsung and Netflix garbage URLs. So does my pi-hole. It’s insane how any of this is actually even legal.
FYI the default blocklist included with PiHole does not block smart TVs. Strongly recommend Perflyst SmartTV List:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Perflyst/PiHoleBlocklist/master/SmartTV.txt
I don’t use the default one from pihole, I had to dig around to find the ones that actually did block all the ads and other garbage. But I’ll definitely dig into the link you have provided. Much appreciated, fellow great human being <3
Make sure to also use the extra RegEx list at https://perflyst.github.io/PiHoleBlocklist/regex.list, which helps remove regional LG ad domains among other things.
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But hasn’t been updated since 2023. Oof.
See the same on my pi-hole. Chromecast is especially evil.
They can get around your Pi Hole with DNS over HTTPS these days. I don't have one. Do you find yours still works well?
I've censored so much traffic that it has issues with certain things. If there wasn't a price crisis I had planned to build my own Android TV box with an old Intel NUC or such but not at these prices. I've not looked into anything about DNS over https. I am behind a VPN at the router though not sure if that helps.
I appreciate the info! A TV box really doesn't require much in the way of hardware. Have you considered picking up an old laptop? I personally use a SteamLink to stream from my desktop. (Pretty rare that I want to watch TV and game at the same time.)
Can they be rooted? I'm honestly about to throw them out.
I know LG TVs can rooted, but I don’t know about Samsung. It actually won’t matter anymore until the government legislates something to make this shit illegal. All of this actually go against the 4th amendment in the US. I that LG has been talking about putting a little modem in their displays that gets its internet from the whole neighborhood’s routers after some deals with AT&T (I think). So then disconnecting the tv from your home network won’t matter.
The fourth amendment only binds the government, not private individuals or companies.
True, but how many of these companies don’t actually give that data to the government?
Well that's the loophole in the Fourth Amendment, as long as anyone gives the data willingly the government is off the hook, even if the person who gave it stole it illegally. As long as the govt didn't force someone to without due process, they're in the clear.
Doesn't the fourth amendment apply to the government, much like the first?
It does, but all these companies are willing to hand out data to the government easily.
I was thinking of taking the Wi-Fi board out entirely
That won’t matter in the future. You’ll need to think of taking the future modem they’ll put there.