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Re:My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force ... by kstrauser on Sunday April 01, 2018 @03:55PM (#16730086)
> If you have a "Smart TV" from any brand

...you should turn that crap off and replace it with a Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, or anything else external. The Amazon app on our Vizio was so out of date that it literally couldn't connect to Amazon's API. Later updates fixed Amazon but enabled some flat-out 1984 level spying: https://consumerist.com/2015/11/09/vizio-smart-tvs-are-watch... . That's when I hard reset the TV, banned its MAC from our Wi-Fi, and started treating it exclusively as a dumb display for other devices.

Under no circumstances would I give any smart TV Internet access. It's not that I have great trust for any of the settop box manufacturers (although Apple's been doing a great job here), but I actively distrust all TV manufacturers.

Re:My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force ... by beezle on Sunday April 01, 2018 @07:35PM (#16731174)
I really do not know why you (and other commenters later) place such great faith in the add on devices, Roku in particular.

Just from a couple months ago: "And that’s where streaming TV company Roku comes in. Today, the company is introducing a new measurement suite called Roku Ad Insights that lets brands and agencies measure how effective their marketing is on OTT in four ways."

You really should assume that any app you run on any device is gathering data about what you are doing. Could be used in house and/or sold to third parties.

Re:My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force ... by Qub3d on Sunday April 01, 2018 @10:01PM (#16731741)
I run my Roku TV behind a super-duper locked down VLAN because of this. I wish I didn't have to, and I no longer recommend them because of the things you've mentioned.
Re:My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force ... by daveFNbuck on Sunday April 01, 2018 @11:35PM (#16732105)
When you see that Roku announcement, you can unplug the Roku from the TV and replace it with something different.
Re:My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force ... by kstrauser on Monday April 02, 2018 @12:36AM (#16732369)
I said that I don't. I definitely mistrust them less than I mistrust any given TV manufacturer, though.
Re:My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force ... by techsupporter on Sunday April 01, 2018 @05:42PM (#16730625)
> you should turn that crap off and replace it with a Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, or anything else external. [...] Under no circumstances would I give any smart TV Internet access.

I totally agree, though my only exception is for Roku TV devices. They're essentially a flat-panel LCD with a Roku permanently stuck in the case with software that supports different inputs as "apps." I've been doing some packet sniffing and, so far as I can see, my TCL Roku TV doesn't do anything different on the wire that my Roku Premiere does.