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Buying a new TV? Read this first.


John Ranalletta

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Hmm, this may drive the cost of USED HDTV's up quite a bit, I'd imagine.  I don't need the latest bells and whistles, if the manufacturer is going to ASSUME they own a portion of MY TIME, while I PAY for their product.  That's an extremely arrogant attitude.   I've bought a lot of (Korean made) Samsung products over the last 20 years.  That can change in an instant.

 

Thanks for the heads up.  

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I've had a smart Samsung TV for several years....I've hunted and hunted to try to figure out a problem.  Every night they poll the TV to see what we've been watching.  It usually happens around 3-4 am.  I finally got a hold of mfg rep one time and asked.  They said doing software bugs and updates....Really?  Every night?  come on man....

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Between THAT and the cable company doing their "quick household update" on a daily basis.   Yeah, right -  UPDATE.  They re-boot the main cable box to see what they can find out on viewing habits.  It helps them  when you go to "drop cable" every year in a re-negotiate-the-contract-fashion.  Seem like different channels get added or deleted, depending on viewing habits.   

 

Sometimes when we re-new the account, the low level channels that I love to watch, often get left out of the new package.  Sup wit dat?  :dontknow:

 

Every piece of electronic device that a person uses these days has a hidden (marketing) agenda.  It's the American way!

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11 minutes ago, wbw6cos said:

Every piece of electronic device that a person uses these days has a hidden (marketing) agenda.  It's the American way!

 

Nothing to do with TV's but more with how 'they' collect data on us, one of our CADS guys is an IT wiz, here's an article his CIO wrote:

 

"Do you ever take quizzes or answer memes on social media sites? Sure...they're sometimes fun. I mean, who doesn't want a computer program to randomly select what state you should live in? But there's a dark side to the quizzes and memes, and even the most innocuous-seeming questions can be used with data from other quizzes, memes, sites and cookies to develop insights into your private information.
The main point of quizzes and meme questions is to tease out little pieces of information about you. Lots of little pieces of information are gold to hackers who want to steal your data, break into your bank account or hack your favorite blood center's computer network.
Let's use one of my current favorite recent quizzes as an example; it's a single-page
meme: "Bet you can't remember the name of your third-grade teacher. Prove me wrong!"*
It doesn't look like a traditional quiz, and the answers are comments, but the answers are still incredibly valuable to a hacker (or your choice of social media site).
Now...assuming you're not using your third grade teacher's name directly as a security question, what's the big deal with giving out this information? By itself, not much. But computers have an almost inconceivable ability to retain and associate the tiniest bits of information. Here's how: let's assume a Facebook "friend" also had that teacher and put that info on FB (by quiz, meme, whatever). Now, there's a classroom/school association between you
and the friend. Your friend takes another quiz that answers the name of the street she grew up on. Since you are related to the friend through the teacher, you may have also grown up in the same neighborhood. A hacker can identify the name of the high school serving
the neighborhood, its teachers,and the street names in the neighborhood. One of those street names just might be the street you grew up on and the street you used in one of your bank security questions.
Here's another example: in 2012, you answered a question about your birth stone. In 2016, you answered a math problem that "always gives the day in the month you were born." Yesterday, you answered what song was #1 on the billboard chart when you graduated high school. You
may well have forgotten answering your birthstone (emerald!) or the math problem, but to a computer, the three pieces of information comprising your date of birth may as well have been answered in one quiz, and your date of birth is known.
For a computer, no association is ever forgotten, and no relationship is too remote. An answer
to a quiz taken 10 years ago is just as actionable as an answer given today and can be associated with entirely different quiz answers from a different person taking a quiz today -- even
if you defriended the person long ago (also: defriending is an association). All these tiny answers get compiled into an ever more complete picture of who you are, where you lived, who you learned from, what you like and how you might answer a security question.
In short, answering memes may have farther reaching consequences than you imagine, and you should proceed with caution whenever you comment. Or just make up something funny and answer that way.
*For the record, my third-grade teacher was Ms. Main. I remember her because she really (really, really) worked me over on arithmetic, and I've always been thankful for her efforts."

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Skywagon said:

I've had a smart Samsung TV for several years....I've hunted and hunted to try to figure out a problem.  Every night they poll the TV to see what we've been watching.  It usually happens around 3-4 am.  I finally got a hold of mfg rep one time and asked.  They said doing software bugs and updates....Really?  Every night?  come on man....

 

Yes, they are "updating".  They are updating their information about YOU.

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TV's are minor sources of info except for TV ratings and add pricing.  Computers and CELL PHONES are the real gold mines.  Every keystroke you make is sold to multiple customers of the equipment manufacturer, service providers, web browser, software/app developer, etc.  TV's are passive entertainment with broad spectrum ads.  When you're on a computer/cell phone you're actively looking for something (product, information, or entertainment) and THAT's what they want to know.

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