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LG is rolling out a new terms of use and privacy policy agreement. Looking pretty ugly over here with my "Smart TV". What can I do?

It seems to be related to some advertising push from a partner named Alfonso that is gathering information cross-platform anything that appears on your screen and pushing advertising to you during playback.

Hopefully not, but that's what it looks like from early reading.

84 comments
  • My LG CX has been blocked from the network for years, starting from the instant the fucker popped up some notice about some shit that wasn't relevant to the TV displaying content.

    Get that shit airgapped. Use a Steam Deck or an old PC tower or laptop to take over for the builtin stuff.

    • This. Treat it like a fancy monitor, and run whatever you need on an external device. You can use an old laptop or a newer raspberry pi

  • My LG, and all other TV’s in my home are disconnected from the internet, because of ACR and ads. I use a seperate setup box. I did have a pihole blocking most of the smart tv telemetry, but I still did not trust the smart part of my tv.

  • I have my LGs connected, but logged out.

    It's a hassle in that it requires to log in and then back out for mandatory updates of some apps (others will update without a logout, for some reason), but at least it removes the need to agree to a whole bunch of their garbage and add it to an identifying account.

    I would keep it offline and use a set-top box, but I have family members that aren't tech savvy and won't want more hassle than pressing the "Netlfix" button on the remote.

    I'll say that even they are increasingly annoyed at the constant cookie prompts during live TV watching. Honestly broadcast TV is an absolute hellscape these days.

    • Honestly broadcast TV is an absolute hellscape these days.

      As a former broadcaster, I just want to point out that actual broadcast TV is the one place you won’t get this. Plug an antenna into the back of your TV and you’ll get the signals from your local station with none of the tracking. It’s a one-way street; the transmitter antenna pumps the signal out from however many miles away and gets nothing back from you. Your local station probably prefers that you watch that way or on a traditional cable box (cable companies usually have to pay the local stations); they don’t really get much from you watching a streaming service. The streaming services like Peacock or Paramount+ let the networks largely bypass the local stations.

      • No, you absolutely get this.

        Maybe because cookie warnings are mandatory here, I am PAINFULLY aware of when the layer of TV malware is pulling info to go along with the TV broadcast. I dismiss advertising cookie warnings in three separate TVs on a daily basis. Once per channel, even. It's incredibly obnoxious.

        For the record, the data mining is not happening over the broadcast. It's the TV software that is pulling watch data and then repackaging along with the broadcaster and selling it to advertisers. I know because they are mandated to disclose it, so they make me read about it a dozen times a day.

    • What else would you use to watch? I used to have my TV offline and watch through a Firestick and airplay, but now the Firestick is worse than the TV apps. I need a new media streamer, but even Roku has enshittified. At this point my only hope is Apple but Apple TV hasn’t been updated in three years

      …. Or I might just give up, since Netflix decided my TV is not part of my household so I need a 2fa every time I want to watch.

84 comments