this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2026
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Privacy

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 12 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

This should be a web site or YT channel. How to remove such bits without bricking the item.

[–] TheyCallMeHacked@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 40 minutes ago (1 children)

To be fair, OP didn’t claim that the remote wasn’t bricked…

[–] yxc999@lemmy.ml 1 points 18 minutes ago* (last edited 18 minutes ago)

It works! I was fully prepared for it to not work and explain to my wife why we need to order a new one, but no issue at all lmao

[–] yxc999@lemmy.ml 1 points 16 minutes ago

Looking up which part to nuke took an hour, but anything to calm down my paranoid ass haha

[–] brrt@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 minutes ago* (last edited 3 minutes ago)

If I don’t want to take the remote apart I guess covering the mic opening with tape would be the next best thing? (Apart from never connecting it to WiFi, which I’ve never done anyway.)

[–] motionofethre@piefed.social 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

How did you find out there was a microphone? And how did you figure out which chip?

[–] yxc999@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

The TV advetises voice recognition in both the TV itself and the remote.

If you look at it, it's likely going to be a 2x4mm silver rectangle with a small hole in it. Not always, but they mostly look like that.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 6 points 1 hour ago (3 children)

Or just don't connect your TV?

[–] RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip 14 points 44 minutes ago (1 children)

And hope no open networks are in range, ever. Or it will exfiltrate collected data.

[–] Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 35 minutes ago

Or another TV of the same manufacturer that has Internet access.

[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 7 points 24 minutes ago (1 children)

To the WiFi?

You are often forced to in order to set it up at all, the damage is already done if you disconnect it or VLAN quarantine it after that.

It doesn't stop the TV from spying on you. GN just proved that it runs STT and records your conversations in plaintext and has the memory to store them for eternity. It also gets your location from scanning WiFi, Bluetooth, and any other devices in the band and geolocating based off of their data.

Then if you ever sell the TV, it will dump the data if they connect it, or somebody with the same brand smart TV moved in next door, it will use that TV's hidden SSID hotspot to jump the airgap and dump all if its (likely time and position stamped) transcribed spying data to the servers.

Hardware fix is literally the only fix.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 1 points 16 minutes ago

Damn I was not aware of that.

[–] yxc999@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] artyom@piefed.social 0 points 27 minutes ago (1 children)

Because one is unnecessary of you do the other?

[–] yxc999@lemmy.ml 1 points 20 minutes ago* (last edited 19 minutes ago)

Out of fucking principle, yes it's not connected, but I won't tolerate a mic in my remote. Besides, you have heard of them being able to use your neighbour's unsafe WIFI if you have to act so smart, right?

[–] brem@lemmy.world 3 points 57 minutes ago

No, you're all getting it wrong.

Collect books, and use the microplastic that you have ingested over the years to build a water-tight caccoon in a cave to protect them.

Everything else simply requires rocks and/or genitalia. Or the absence of rocks and/or genitalia.

Such is a way.

[–] eremophila@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

That is not my remote though

[–] glitch1985@lemmy.world 1 points 17 minutes ago

I lost mine yesterday so I'm thinking this is where it went to.

[–] EatMyPixelDust@lemmy.blahaj.zone -2 points 21 minutes ago (1 children)

Don't buy these kinds of TVs in the first place?

[–] yxc999@lemmy.ml 3 points 17 minutes ago (1 children)

Sure thing, please look up what a 50 inch 4K dumb screen costs and report back to me.

[–] ulterno@programming.dev 1 points 1 minute ago

Just about 4x the price of a similar TV. Although, said monitor also has a higher refresh rate.

Oh wait! There's one under 2x the price : "LG 50UL3J-M 50" UHD 4K Commercial Monitor"