Interesting blog post about LG TVs

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#938111 20-Nov-2013 19:40

reven: personally I just think its the times we live it, it really doesnt bother me all that much. as long as there is some restrictions to what the collect. But showing me relevant ads compared to completely rubbish ones, im fine with that.

I'm not. If I pay for a TV I see no reason for it to start forcing ads on me, relevant or otherwise.

Unless it's explicitly part of the bargain I knowingly agree to when I get the TV, and I get something tangible in return that I feel is worth it (say like the Kindle where you explicitly get a lower price if you agree to the sponsored version, and are told why), then they have no business whatsoever doing this.

Bombarding me with unsolicited ads is annoying, and deserves the same blunt response telemarketers who interrupt my dinner get. Snooping on what you watch on your TV, without your knowledge, in a way that can be linked back to you is actually a bit creepy........

LG are off my TV buying list, and the lists of any family members I advise (most of them), unless they come back with a pretty good response on this one.

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#938185 20-Nov-2013 21:24

JimmyH:
reven: personally I just think its the times we live it, it really doesnt bother me all that much. as long as there is some restrictions to what the collect. But showing me relevant ads compared to completely rubbish ones, im fine with that.

I'm not. If I pay for a TV I see no reason for it to start forcing ads on me, relevant or otherwise.

Unless it's explicitly part of the bargain I knowingly agree to when I get the TV, and I get something tangible in return that I feel is worth it (say like the Kindle where you explicitly get a lower price if you agree to the sponsored version, and are told why), then they have no business whatsoever doing this.

Bombarding me with unsolicited ads is annoying, and deserves the same blunt response telemarketers who interrupt my dinner get. Snooping on what you watch on your TV, without your knowledge, in a way that can be linked back to you is actually a bit creepy........

LG are off my TV buying list, and the lists of any family members I advise (most of them), unless they come back with a pretty good response on this one.

Its not like they're popping up ads over your normal usage, its doing it via the smart menu thing (whatever LG calls it, samsung its smart hub). thats their application, if you dont want smart features, dont use that, disconnect the wifi/ethernet.

so its a little extreme to say "Bombarding me with unsolicited ads".

but if you want to continue to use software that gets updated, features get added too, without paying anything additional for these updates/improvements, then a small targeted ad is fine IMO. And I bet most people also wouldnt really care. this will happen more and more, as profits from tv sales decrease, and sales from apps/ads increase.

and there are ways to prevent these ads as mentioned previously, or that silly ad free internet device that was on kickstarter (or another site?)

Regs

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#938247 20-Nov-2013 22:07

JimmyH:
LG are off my TV buying list, and the lists of any family members I advise (most of them), unless they come back with a pretty good response on this one.

the LG NZ team have acknowledge the issue and are 'investigating' according to their twitter and facebook updates. I'd say that this will quickly escalate and they will be forced to take action at the head office.

in related news, apparently the LG user guides show you how to play your downloaded pirated movies.... [ur]https://twitter.com/darrenpauli/status/403045850760638464[/url]

LG User Manual Tutorial on watching pirated movies

LG User Manual Tutorial on watching pirated movies

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mattwnz

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#938252 20-Nov-2013 22:13

hashbrown:
How do you know there isn't an LG employee in NZ with access to this data? Around the holidays they look for TVs that stop connecting, cross reference the serial number with the warranty registration address information, then hand the data to their mates to go rob your house?

You could say the same about ISPs, they could see that no data is being used and that the house is most likely empty, or power providers

jarledb

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#938271 21-Nov-2013 00:32

reven:
no hoops really, my router has dns set to unblockus so when i first bought the tv it detected i was in america so defaulted to american store, so i didnt have to do anything, netflix, hulu were there. vudu doesnt work though as they check the serial number of the device and see if it is a american device (vudu has always been a PITA though).

Interesting. Might have to do some work on the Samsung (it was setup without the router using Unblock-us for DNS). BUT, are you able to use the TVNZ on demand app as well? Really want to have that around as well as the Netflix app. Guess I will have to do the moving apps on and off the TV trick to get that huh?

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hashbrown

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#938312 21-Nov-2013 08:09

mattwnz:
hashbrown:
How do you know there isn't an LG employee in NZ with access to this data? Around the holidays they look for TVs that stop connecting, cross reference the serial number with the warranty registration address information, then hand the data to their mates to go rob your house?

You could say the same about ISPs, they could see that no data is being used and that the house is most likely empty, or power providers

Yes but they don't have a shopping list of the consumer electronics you own :)

The point here is that you may not care that LG know you watch One News, then Shortland St.... etc, but that doesn't mean the information can't be used to harm you. It's an example of where the data may not be all that interesting, but analysis of the meta-data has risk associated with it.

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reven

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#938336 21-Nov-2013 09:18

jarledb:
reven:
no hoops really, my router has dns set to unblockus so when i first bought the tv it detected i was in america so defaulted to american store, so i didnt have to do anything, netflix, hulu were there. vudu doesnt work though as they check the serial number of the device and see if it is a american device (vudu has always been a PITA though).

Interesting. Might have to do some work on the Samsung (it was setup without the router using Unblock-us for DNS). BUT, are you able to use the TVNZ on demand app as well? Really want to have that around as well as the Netflix app. Guess I will have to do the moving apps on and off the TV trick to get that huh?

you can only have apps from one region/country at a time. when you change regions it deletes all your apps, and then downloads the base apps for that region (for US, it downloads netflix, hulu and a few others). so you cant have nz apps and us apps at the same time (well not easily, ive heard you can FTP into it or something and put apps on it, or if you manage to get the app package you could get it on there...).

for nz stuff I just record whatever i want to watch using nextpvr and just watch it on the tv. netflix is what i use most.

stevenz

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#938348 21-Nov-2013 09:42

I had to make the decision. Did I want Netflix and Hulu, or did I want TVNZ OnDemand. It wasn't a hard decision, so my TV now thinks it's in America.

@KnightNZ

nickrout

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#938656 21-Nov-2013 20:57

Looks like a job for the privacy commissioner.

hashbrown

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#939326 22-Nov-2013 22:45

Plugged my older model LG smart TV into my htpc for awhile this evening to sniff the traffic. Nothing appeared to be being shared, but my TV doesn't even have a collection of watching info option.

Could be either my TV is too old, or LG just aren't interested in NZ viewing habits. Does anyone have a 2013 LG, and does it have this option?

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#939353 23-Nov-2013 00:30

jarledb:
reven:
no hoops really, my router has dns set to unblockus so when i first bought the tv it detected i was in america so defaulted to american store, so i didnt have to do anything, netflix, hulu were there. vudu doesnt work though as they check the serial number of the device and see if it is a american device (vudu has always been a PITA though).

Interesting. Might have to do some work on the Samsung (it was setup without the router using Unblock-us for DNS). BUT, are you able to use the TVNZ on demand app as well? Really want to have that around as well as the Netflix app. Guess I will have to do the moving apps on and off the TV trick to get that huh?

My DNS is setup the same, then you just hit the smart button and key in : FWD 2 8 9 and select the zone you want. Re downloading the apps took maybe 5 minutes and its works great. No tvnz app...but then who cares at that point.

As for LG, nice examples in the user manual :-)

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DrDee

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#942856 29-Nov-2013 11:46

I have an LG smartTV with the latest firmware. It DOES NOT have adverts, it does not have the menu option to turn off adverts. The indicated area that displays adverts as shown in the OP link (which is a UK TV and UK based article) just shows a standard LG logo on mine and does not change ever.

This whole thread is a non-event for NZ versions of the LG smart TV's....

dolsen

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#942889 29-Nov-2013 12:46

DrDee: I have an LG smartTV with the latest firmware. It DOES NOT have adverts, it does not have the menu option to turn off adverts. The indicated area that displays adverts as shown in the OP link (which is a UK TV and UK based article) just shows a standard LG logo on mine and does not change ever.

This whole thread is a non-event for NZ versions of the LG smart TV's....

Just because it doesn't show adverts, doesn't mean the tv doesn't upload data to them...

DrDee

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#942991 29-Nov-2013 16:47

dolsen:
DrDee: I have an LG smartTV with the latest firmware. It DOES NOT have adverts, it does not have the menu option to turn off adverts. The indicated area that displays adverts as shown in the OP link (which is a UK TV and UK based article) just shows a standard LG logo on mine and does not change ever.

This whole thread is a non-event for NZ versions of the LG smart TV's....

Just because it doesn't show adverts, doesn't mean the tv doesn't upload data to them...

The only time I have seen data on my network going up from the TV is when I click to check if there is a firmware update.

Mark

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#942994 29-Nov-2013 16:52

DrDee: I have an LG smartTV with the latest firmware. It DOES NOT have adverts, it does not have the menu option to turn off adverts. The indicated area that displays adverts as shown in the OP link (which is a UK TV and UK based article) just shows a standard LG logo on mine and does not change ever.

This whole thread is a non-event for NZ versions of the LG smart TV's....

Is your TV one of the newer ones ? Or an older model ? Might not be every model that does it ...

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