LG Smart TV Caught Collecting Data On Files Stored On Connected USB Drives

Not only was LG sucking up viewer data, it was sending the data on each interaction completely unencrypted. This isn't necessarily a huge problem if the data collection was limited to the channel watched and for what length of time. But as the increasingly creepy sales pitch above points out, LG also wants "search keywords" and a potentially unlimited amount of "other information."

LG Smart TV Caught Collecting Data On Files Stored On Connected USB Drives

It is not only the NSA that wants to know everything about you - commerce is now driven by information to target adds - we have seen recently that the value of companies such as Facebook and Twitter is the information they hold on you - and now everyone wants in on the act.

Next thing your toaster will be checking you bread, how long you toast it for, how fresh it is, and passing that information to someone to sell you a better fridge to keep your bread fresher longer...as well as to local bakers! (only half in jest!)

The "Big Govt" security aspects are bad enough, but when your appliances are spying on you one has to think that the world is getting to be a pretty strange place!!

Ha yeah i read this on the register today.

I really dislike this assumed acceptance with invasion of privacy with metameta. Its FAR more personal than information about you because it treats you like a predictable money source that 'they' [LG in this case] can market and sell info on.

Dislike this and i dont think theres a voice for the people to opt for right now and its a damned shame.

I really want to see a voice for the globe for not being probed 24/7 only to be sold things we dont actually need.

Id be able to buy a new, much nicer shower by now if i didnt want to use nice smelling shower gel......

the source i read says that the data is not actually being captured right now, but could any time. I understand we are discussing the what if rather than the what now.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Ever since they switch to digital on the Televisions, I have nothing but problems with them, so it doesn't surprise me they are using them to get even more information from you.
Hell they can do it with the new dishwashers, refrigerators, your cars everything.

Don't be surprised when you find a video of yourself, walking around nude around your house, on the internet someday. No video camera needed, just your dishwasher.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


I think we are being spied upon in many more ways than we know right now.
I personally think that "targeted advertising" is a cover for something much more sinister.
I also think we are in a transitional stage of full spectrum surveillance. We are being slowly but surely acclimatised to acceptance of it. Hence why I have covered the cameras on both my laptop and "smart" phone.
I have added an extra few layers to my tin hat too, apparently ELF wave technology is advancing rapidly.

When everyone walks around with "smart" devices, who needs ID cards?

Don't be surprised when you find a video of yourself, walking around nude around your house, on the internet someday. No video camera needed, just your dishwasher.



Oh no Im in trouble lol..... I guess the only voice we have is in our spending dollars.

I'm waiting until after Christmas to hear how the retailers are upset that we didnt spend the money they had hoped for on all their made in china crap that nobody really needs

reply to post by tinner07

If the Government wanted you to walk around your house naked they would give you a permit to do so. After all applicable fees, of course.

Targeted advertising, I do not use coupons nor do I buy products any company tries to cram down my throat. If I need something I go to a store and get it. Only a rube does otherwise.

chiefsmom
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

 

Don't be surprised when you find a video of yourself, walking around nude around your house, on the internet someday.

No video camera needed, just your dishwasher.

The jokes on them. I never wear pants at home.

So glad I don't buy into TV's at all anymore. But as Aloysius the Gaul said, today it's TV's, tomorrow it's taosters, PC's, thermostats, you name it. Pretty soon I will have to pack up, head into the woods with a tent to avoid this invasion of privacy run rampant. I am glad I have an old tent, how long until new ones got a GPS hidden in it somewheres......

Its become a consumer nightmare, being stalked by hugely aggressive sales techniques, look what marketeers have done to the internet, it has now become horrific, using previous search terms to target you to death.

I've been stalked by a pair of shoes for month now, if this doesn't put us girls off shopping nothing will!

Absolutely 100% complete and utter total hatred for this kind of marketing.

It actually makes me want to buy it from a competitor who doesn't do this just out of principle.

OneManArmy
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

 

I think we are being spied upon in many more ways than we know right now.
I personally think that "targeted advertising" is a cover for something much more sinister.
I also think we are in a transitional stage of full spectrum surveillance. We are being slowly but surely acclimatised to acceptance of it. Hence why I have covered the cameras on both my laptop and "smart" phone.
I have added an extra few layers to my tin hat too, apparently ELF wave technology is advancing rapidly.

When everyone walks around with "smart" devices, who needs ID cards?

Couldn't agree more with everything you said there.

btw - I like that shirt you're wearing, but the 3rd button down is a bit loose, you might want to check the thread on that one, and you might want to wipe that worktop before sitting your mug there!



GTD

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


This is news to me and I work for this company. I am ashamed. Not surprised but ashamed.

I'm sure most manufacturers have this same capability. Whatever brand you own, please be conscious of everything.

Big Brother's Pandora's Box has been open for awhile. Stay alert out there.

Just remember this bit of advice--if it has "Smart" in the name, then it's probably a dumb idea to buy it. That's the trend that I'm noticing. Take it for what you will.

What bothers me even more than the actual information is the fact that the information doesn't exist in the real world. No finger prints, no dna, no trace evidence of any kind- just the words on the computer screen vs the words coming out of the mouth of the accused. And they keep saying that if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Doesn't that strongly imply that everyone who is accused must be guilty?

Generally speaking, if there is any room to accuse you of anything, there is also room for you to be proven innocent. For example, if a police informant says he saw me buying crack at the corner of 1st and A streets, i can always go find a surveillance camera or a shop keeper in that area that can prove I walked right by that corner without talking to any crack dealers.

If the computers say they I ordered crack on silk road, not only are there no other witnesses, i can't even cross examine the witness against me, because its a machine- its lights that come on in the pattern a person told them to- it has no actual knowledge or understanding of anything it alleges against you.

So what happens when the NSA has a problem with a journalist, and tells their computer to say that a journalist had stolen NSA files on the thumb drive he uses for pirated movies? The computer says he is guilty, the judge issuing the arrest warrant can't tell the difference between a computer lying and a computer telling the truth, there's nothing else to examine.

We're basically on our way to presuming omniscience on the part of the authorities, which places them beyond question. And if you do question them, their computer can say that you're a pervert and your opposition to the authorities is forever tainted whether you are guilty or not- no need for a victim, no need for a witness, no need for anything illegal in your possession, just a line of text on a screen that nobody can investigate any further, and you're done.

The Vagabond
And they keep saying that if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Doesn't that strongly imply that everyone who is accused must be guilty?

My whole problem with the whole "If you aint doing anything wrong" argument is that the laws now, when they bring in the surveillance can be changed tomorrow once we are watched, say for example they decide to make criticising the government illegal. How many of us would then be doing something wrong?

Its surveillance beyond any reasonable need. Except nefarious ones.
A country can be "collapsed" in a day, just crush its currency and you crush the country.
Lets not give away all our freedoms now, before they crash our economy tomorrow.
We are blindly walking into our own total enslavement...because its entertaining.

As for clamping down on a journalist, all thats required is to say he had paedophile pictures on his computer. That kills anyones credibility in a flash.

reply to post by The Vagabond


You make some really good arguments, especially since well today your computer could be a ghost, and you wouldn't notice it. For those who don't understand, I'm not 100% sure the term is ghost, but basicly a well known tactic for hackers ( like in a large scale ddos attack ) is it infect 100's of pc's. In doing so it makes an array to boost what ever it want, be it diversion, alias or when doing a ddos attack getting enough IP's to overload the server system.

SO at this point you can be accused of visiting "bad child involving websites" and try to prove it wasn't you. Your computer leaves a trail. Not the hacker, your computer mix that with... I'm not saying everyone has some weird fetish in the adult time, but lets just say you have a weird legal fetish mix that up with said trail... Good luck.

I think its safe to assume that the cat is out the bag ( since snowden ) and they just don't give a damn about your privacy and couldn't care less with what the consumer feels.

What I do find scary is that this new transatlantic agreement ( you know the one that gives company's more rights then the government) once it comes true, this will only become worse.

I watch a lot of anime in my free time, preferable the post-apocalyptic type.The Japanese have a brilliant idea how to portray such a time. And well its getting too close to comfort.

Many of these devices also have cameras built into them, and they are connected to the internet. Effectively, you give your government permission to watch you in your home if you buy one.

Enjoy your fancy new Telescreens. It's almost as if 1984 is the instruction book for the future.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Looking more towards the conspiracy side its a nice workaround to the 4th amendment.

Bury the fine lines in the wall of text end user license agreements.... Companies get the information and in turn hand it over / sell it to the Government. Since the action started from the company and not at the request of Law Enforcement, the argument of acting as an agent of law enforcement / acting under color of law goes out the window.

Ironic how the same tactic is either accepted (if done by hacking groups) or denounced (if done by companies / governments).

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Is no only the NSA like you said even your bank is doing it too, soon after our bank that we have been members for 30 years did their latest "upgrade" I just found out that they are tracking our spending habits, and keeping a chart of it.

Yes everything we do now will be data mined for somebody else to profit while the government keeps an eye on all of us for "security reasons" they want to know everything we do.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


what I find funny is ATS does the same thing.
I can go to ATS and look at the banners around the actual site, they are quite clearly related to things I search the internet for.

yes yes its a third party advertising firm and all that jazz...

what I dont see the point in, is eveyone pretending like it matters.

Its like complaining that the sky is blue... no matter what, you do its the way of the world.

reply to post by Agit8dChop


If you disable google adds you will not get to see any banners or advertising, you can download the safe features from Microsoft site, under manage add ons, and turn them on and off as you seem fit, sadly it will also affect other sites in the net, it doesn't bother me at all.