(LifeSiteNews) — In case you need another good reason to get rid of your LG Smart TV, here is another: It’s spying on you.
According to a two-hour report released on YouTube by Gamers Nexus on September 6 titled “216,000,000 Spy TVs,” the LG Smart TV is essentially a piece of surveillance equipment – even when it is turned off or in standby mode. Even when the TVs were disconnected from the internet, they were able to record microphone audio, store audio files offline, and upload it once a Wi-Fi connection was restored.
LG Smart TVs are designed to be “almost constantly logging and uploading data about owners and their homes,” scanning “Wi-Fi networks for nearby devices, record[ing] audio logs through their microphones, and us[ing] audio and video sampling to recognize exactly what you’re watching from across the TV inputs.”
The investigation was spearheaded by YouTubers Games Nexus and Level1Techs along with independent security researchers and involved intensive testing of retail LG OLED TVs.
“The LG Smart TVs we’ve tested have first-party ACR (automatic content recognition) functionality that can pry into your personal life with greater precision than you might realize, with LG Ad Solutions’ executives and leadership saying, on camera, that LG ‘owns the glass,’” Gamers Nexus stated. “Not you – even though you bought it – but them. They also talk about knowing everybody in the household, knowing the secondary devices, moving from TVs to smartphones and other screens, and more in their B2B discussions.”
“Beyond just the fact that we think the TV’s native behavior parallels malware, the LG Smart TVs we tested also have a number of security vulnerabilities that can be exploited to convert the TVs into covert listening devices,” Gamers Nexus continued. “In this investigation, we dive into the mix of LG’s first-party functionality that (in our opinions) is tantamount to spying and LG’s vulnerabilities and exploits that they have failed to protect against.”
The Automatic Content Recognition of the LG TVs “watches” everything that comes on the screen and fingerprints audio and video of whatever is displayed, including anything plugged in from HDMI or USB port as well as apps, with all of the resulting data being sent to LG Ad Solutions for ads and “household profiling.” One TV tested by Gamers Nexus sent approximately 4 GB of ACR data per month.
The LG Smart TV also constantly scans the Local Area Network (LAN) and inventories other devices for profiling purposes, including smartwatches, smartphones, printers, server, and even thermostats and air purifiers. One LG Smart TV tested by Gamer Nexus turned up 38 other devices, nearby Wi-Fi network names, location data, and more. Audio recording continued after voice commands were finished, and even when the on-screen mic mute had been turned on. Gamer Nexus stated that the LG Smart TV can essentially be turned into a remote listening device with very little difficulty.
“The report comes just over a month after LG was accused of installing adware on PCs and recording guests in your home, claims that LG refuted in a statement,” TechRadar reported on September 9. “However, this new report could be even more damaging because LG’s own marketing pitch to businesses says that ‘we know who’s in the LG household. We know which devices are there. We know what you’re exposed to on TV and we know how to extend that reach into mobile.'”
