[opendtv] LG smart TV snooping extends to home networks, second blogger says
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipient:;
- Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 01:09:41 -0500
LG smart TV snooping extends to home networks, second blogger says
Internet-connected TVs from LG phone home with file names in shared folders.
by Dan Goodin
Nov 21 2013
Ars Technica
Smart TV from LG phones home with user's viewing habits, USB file names
It's not the premise of a sci-fi novel. Internet-connected TVs are
watching you now.
A second blogger has published evidence that his LG-manufactured
smart television is sharing sensitive user data with the Korea-based
company in a post that offers support for the theory that the
snooping isn't isolated behavior that affects a small number of sets.
In addition to transmitting a list of shows being watched and the
names of files contained on USB drives, the Internet-connected TV
also sent the names of files shared on home or office networks, the
blogger reported. He made the discovery after plugging the Wireshark
packet-sniffing program into his home network and noticing that an LG
TV-model number 42ls570, purchased in April-was transmitting file
names that sounded vaguely familiar even though there was no USB
drive plugged in.
"It turns out it was pulling filenames from my shared folders over
the network and broadcasting those instead," he wrote in a blog post
published Thursday. "I moved all the media out of the folder and put
a few duds in named 'GiantPorn,' turned the TV off and on and it was
still broadcasting the old filenames. The TV couldn't see those files
whilst browsing manually so I'd hazard a guess it's caching some of
these locally."
Within about 10 minutes, voilà. The name of the GiantPorn MPEG file
was transmitted to 193.67.216.135, an IP address belonging to LG
Electronics, according to Whois records.
...
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/11/lg-smart-tv-snooping-extends-to-home-networks-second-blogger-says/
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