20260911 Lauschende Fernseher

Disconnect Permanently from the Internet

We shouldn't leave ourselves—or at least our LG TV—unattended while connected to our home Wi-Fi or the Internet. Years ago, we had already warned about eavesdropping TVs, vacuum cleaners, Cars and other devices.

The article linked below is about the South Korean TV manufacturer LG and, specifically, its G5 model, among others. Testers from the Gamers Nexus portal took a close look at what the device does when it actually appears to be doing nothing at all. Even when it appears to be turned off, it is extremely active:

LG Smart TVs actively analyze the home Wi-Fi network.

Information detected — such as IP and MAC addresses, specific device names, and detailed Wi-Fi information — is transmitted to LG Ad Solutions.

When the TV’s voice function is active, audio data is logged as text and transmitted over the Internet.

Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology monitors HDMI connections and captures the content being played through them. Not only is audio content recorded, but screenshots are also taken.

Even if you sensibly turn off the Wi-Fi at night, it doesn’t help. The device then stores the content until it is connected to the Internet again.

In addition to the advertising-oriented features, the testers identified security vulnerabilities in the webOS operating system that allow for remote code execution (RCE). This was possible even when the TV appeared to be turned off to the user.

The testers complain that these processes do not occur just once during installation, but take place systematically, affecting both users’ privacy and the security of the entire home network. According to the company, LG Ad Solutions is proud to have access to approximately 363 million devices in the U.S. — even though there are only 341 million U.S. citizens...
None of this would have happened with the device pictured above, which was manufactured in the GDR.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)