The company claims reports about its capturing and uploading audio are misleading.

Earlier this week, Gamers Nexus, Level1Techs, and independent security researchers detailed some alarming findings about how LG’s TVs are logging and uploading data on its users. Now the company is pushing back against those allegations, saying that “Some recent media coverage may have contributed to misconceptions about how LG smart TVs work.”

LG released a statement in which it claims that its “TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations,” and that wake-word detection is all processed locally. However, the word “continuously” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here as Gamers Nexus demonstrated an LG TV keeping extensive logs of ambient conversations long after one would assume its AI assistant had stopped listening.

  • Malica@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    15 days ago

    They’re adding a forced arbitration clause to their upcoming ToS, clearly the actions of innocent people

  • Muffi@programming.devEnglish
    3·
    15 days ago

    After the recent controversies, I added a bunch of blockers for LG trackers to my pi-hole, to stop my 8 year old TV from collecting data. It blocked a lot at first, but then suddenly nothing, I investigated a bit and saw that it had started sending only to their Vietnamese servers, which were missing from my blocklist.

    Make sure you block all regions!

    • pixiribbit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      15 days ago

      Gamers Nexus: We’ve documented the entire process. There’s irrefutable proof demonstrating that your TVs log conversations.

      LG: Nuh-uh.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    15 days ago

    One thing I think a lot of people tend to miss when dealing with executive interviews, PR statements, and company advertising is that often times how a company defines a given term and how the actual dictionary and everyone in the world defines that term are not the same thing unless it is legally required.

    Textbook examples:

    Telsa, Musk, and self driving: Musk and Tesla define it as essentially what everyone else called lane assist. Then they have “full self driving” for what is supposed to be the thing everyone else would think of as self driving.

    OpenAI, Sam Altman, and AGI (artificial general intelligence): No one in the AI industry has an agreed upon definition of what AGI even means. The AI labs just throw it out there for hype and funding rounds and tweak the meaning to them as they need. To most normal people I would suspect AGI means “a machine that knows its a machine and is at least as smart as the average person”.

    Point being when LG says “ its TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations,” that can mean literally anything they can twist human communication methods to mean in their specific context. And it is usually the one that makes them the most money.

    • qarbone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      15 days ago

      at least as smart as the average person.

      Ooooh. So that’s why they’re eroding public education: to make AGI achievable sooner!

  • [object Object]@lemmy.caEnglish
    1·
    15 days ago

    “We own the glass” is enough for me to never buy an LG again. I own two never contacted to the internet, but Jesus that’s gross.

      • [object Object]@lemmy.caEnglish
        0·
        14 days ago

        BTW I see the “but a dumb tv” advice, but what are some dumb tvs in 2026?

        I only see smart TVs in store, and I know the side I’d look for signage TVs but I don’t know if they have good audio with a sound bar, or good colour presentation.

        • ThisUsernameKillsFascists@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          12 days ago

          I bought a 50-something-inch Sceptre about 5-6 years ago for like $200 that is just a display with inputs. I believe they are only sold through Walmart, and I have no idea if they are still available or not.

  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    15 days ago

    LG released a statement in which it claims that its “TVs do not continuously record or transmit users’ conversations,”

    But with a 100 trigger words?

  • NotSteve_@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    15 days ago

    Haha very happy my LG C1 has never met an Ethernet cable or WiFi connection but honestly wouldn’t be surprised to hear they’re doing shady things anyway like trying to access unlocked connections or recording everything for the future anyway

    • SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zoneEnglish
      1·
      14 days ago

      There’s a conspiracy theory that LG TVs - in the absence of an internet connection - attempt to create an ad-hoc mesh network with any nearby LG sets.

      No evidence for that but as conspiracy theories go, it’s believable and juicy, no?

  • inquanto@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    15 days ago

    I have an LG C3 that I never connected to Wifi or plugged an ethernet cable into. I only use it with my nvidia shield running lineage OS, am I still affected by this / anything I should do?

    • AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      15 days ago

      Yes you’re still effected.

      It’s not unreasonable to assume it may have been connected to the internet unbeknownst to you if there’s been an unsecured network close by that your tv could connect to.

      An attacker could (and gamers Nexus demonstrated this) connect to your television and read transcripts of things you’ve said in your house when you didn’t realise your tv was listening. If you’ve never used the voice recognition wake word around your tv you might be ok, but an attacker can also change the wake word to something you might casually say (they showed this too)

      If you do own an LG tv it’s worth watching the gamers Nexus video to fully be aware of what is happening.

      • SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        0·
        15 days ago

        Effect: a thing: particle effects, fireworks, special effects

        Affect: something is changed: affected by politics, smoking in public affects others, affected by the amount of love from your parents

          • SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            0·
            15 days ago

            Nah, they used the wrong one. It’s not a big deal, but I like having easy ways to help remember common misspellings or weird things. Like on two axis graphs, the X and Y coordinates sometimes get confusing. So, in order to remember which coordinate is which, X and then Y, and then you have to RUN (horizontal, X) before you JUMP (vertical, Y). I heard that from some teacher when I was a kid and never forgot.

            • AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              0·
              15 days ago

              Wait, I’m the guy you corrected. What’s the easy way to remember affected vs effected? You just told me which is which, but do you have a trick like you do for the X vs Y axis on a graph?