Who is collecting data from your TV set?

Do you get analog fuzz or a blank screen when not tuned in?

“They’rrrrrrre heeeeerrrree…”

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Some television models have a USB-A port for firmware updates via sneakernet. My household has a fairly old HDTV in the family room equipped with one that has long since had any manufacturer updates, and the Samsung SlimFit TX-T2793H CRT mentioned earlier also has a USB-A service port as well.

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It’s analog fuzz for the non digital channels!!! Of course I have constant tinnitus so I don’t even need to have the TV on an empty channel for the Poltergeist reruns.

Who knew that old TV’s would make a comeback for privacy reasons? My (adult) children are tired of my repeated “you guys are so lucky” stories about my family only having a 13" black and white TV throughout my childhood/high-school and having a “party line” (3 other families) hardwired rotary telephone.

That seems more accurate than my googled estimate of 106lbs. Either way, it’s awkwardly heavy.

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Here are a few relevant articles:

There is also an updated list of recommendations for current products on the consumer market:

Related:

Yep, good point, provided that you don’t need some crappy blackbox Windows software in order to get the firmware update.

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Usually the firmware files are provided from the manufacturer’s website in a .bin file, or at most a .zip file that requires archive extraction.

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I didn’t cable cut, but I did flip from Cox to T-Mobile. In the past whenever I wanted to cancel service, I got whining from the ISP, Dish Network made sales pitches to keep me on board, Verizon also made sales pitches with offers for more stuff.

When I asked Cox to cut service this week, the chat guy said “effective immediately” and lo and behold, (I was still running them on one of my devices), it stopped within 5 minutes.

Good thing I was running both services in parallel.

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Yet another article: How smart TVs spy on you and harvest data • The Register

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