this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2026
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An investigation by Gamers Nexus found LG smart TVs sweep local networks to map phones and nearby devices. Tests also showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet.

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[–] manualoverride@lemmy.world 45 points 1 hour ago (4 children)

Secretly recording conversations in peoples homes sounds like it should be against the law in a number of countries.

Imagine someone working for the government, security services, or a defence contractor. I suspect LG may be in trouble with a number of National Security agencies.

[–] Seppo@sopuli.xyz 26 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

It is illegal. Unfortunately crime is legal for corporations. They just pay the crime fee and can continue undisturbed. Shareholders must be held responsible individually, otherwise it will only get worse.

[–] Jajcus@sh.itjust.works 7 points 32 minutes ago

Not shareholders. Decision makers. Upper msnagement. Shareholders shpuld pay in share value (the finantial penalty to the corporations should be high enough to affect that), bu the personal an criminal responsibility belongs to managers, CEO in particular.

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 44 minutes ago)

Shareholders must be held responsible individually

So, are you personally on the hook here because the company managing your pension fund is holding stocks in LG? Because that technically makes you a shareholder as it was bought with your money, right?

Edit: not sure why I get downvoted, this is a legitimate concern/nuance to the debate. The managing company doesn't own these stocks so they're not the shareholders, that's the people whose money they are managing, but these people are not directly in control of the funds. Who is the liable party in this?

[–] TipRing@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Recording without consent is very much a crime in any single-party state, but my guess is that the TOS that people click past to use the TV gives them permission to record you. If it didn't, they would be in big legal hot water.

[–] Jajcus@sh.itjust.works 4 points 30 minutes ago

Clicking through ToS does not magically make illegal things legal.

[–] fake@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 hour ago

Only in trouble if they didn't loop them in on the audio feeds.

Should be. Hope it happens and quickly

[–] whaleross@lemmy.world 60 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

EU really should regulate against this kind of behaviour

[–] abbadon420@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Problem us that there are too few tech literate politicians

[–] inari@piefed.zip 14 points 1 hour ago

The problem is way worse: big tech ~~contributes to~~bribes politicians to vote according to industry interests.

[–] whaleross@lemmy.world 3 points 47 minutes ago

It's not the politicians job to know everything but to make decisions and legislate based on information from the expertise. It is the people in the know that need to make the proposals for the politicians to bring it up. It's us, the tech literate, that need to write proposals that are informative with arguments derived from trusted sources to make the politicians aware that these are concerns that need to be addressed.

[–] RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 minutes ago

So this is why every product started to go standby, low power mode, instead of turning off.

[–] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 7 points 1 hour ago

I ran a packet capture on my TV as I left it turned off overnight.

They wake up in the middle of the night, do "stuff" then go back offline. Like a zombie.

[–] whaleross@lemmy.world 24 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Ugh. So blocklists were not enough. Time to isolate my telly on the router.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

If your television is connected to any network at all its already too late.

[–] Flower@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 hour ago

Even then it's rumoured some brands of TV try to connect to Bluetooth connected devices to connect to the net. I think that was Samsung.

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 hour ago

Amazon Sidewalk - even if you didn't connect it, it could still be spying

[–] Brennenstein@lemmy.world 7 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Oh, nice. Who doesn't like their fucking TV snooping on them?

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 2 points 40 minutes ago (1 children)

My LG TV is not getting network privileges, ever. I wonder if there is a way to turn off the WiFi radio altogether.

[–] jsnfwlr@lemmy.ml 3 points 23 minutes ago

A soldering iron will do it...

[–] ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world 1 points 32 minutes ago

Welp glad I never put in my WiFi. This’ll be my last LG

[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 3 points 1 hour ago

Is this with accepting all their terms and functionality, or also when declining?

[–] 20cello@lemmy.world 8 points 1 hour ago

Starting today I'm going to yell epstein files at my tv

[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago