LG smart TVs keep scanning home networks and recording microphone sound even when the screen looks off, according to a new investigation from Gamers Nexus. The video, made with Level1Techs and independent researchers, lays out how far the tracking goes.
What the Testing Found
Steve and his partners tested retail LG TVs, including the model called G5. Using Wireshark to look at the data moving across the network, they watched the TVs actively scan for other devices, such as phones and smartwatches. The sets also gathered:
- Internal IP addresses of other devices on the network
- Names and strength of Wi-Fi networks close by
- Data showing where the TV was placed
The TV reached out toward devices that had nothing to do with watching a show, gathering network detail without asking.
Where the Data Goes
The gathered information feeds into LG Ad Solutions, the company’s advertising arm. LG says it has sold roughly 216 million smart TVs around the world. LG Ad Solutions, meanwhile, says it can reach 363 million other devices in the US alone, gathered by tracking hardware that shares a network with its TVs.
The TVs also run Automated Content Recognition, known as ACR, which turns the audio and video shown on the screen into digital marks so LG can record what people watch, no matter which source they use to watch it. ACR itself is not new; it has been reported before. But this testing shows the TVs gather far more than ACR alone would explain. The scanning for other devices and the gathering of network names sit outside anything ACR was built to do.
Sound Recorded in Sleep Mode
During testing, the researchers found the TV could take in clear microphone sound while the screen appeared to be turned off, sitting in what looks like a resting mode.
When the team removed the Ethernet cord, the TV did not stop listening.
It kept saving voice sound on the device itself, then sent the stored files once the network came back. That means a TV cut off from the internet is not a TV that has stopped gathering sound. It is simply a TV waiting to send what it already has.
Weaknesses in the TV’s Software
The researchers also found ways to run outside code on the software running LG’s TVs, without permission. Those weaknesses are now moving through the process of being shared with LG before any public word goes out, a step meant to give the company time to fix them first.
Because the TVs ship with wide network watching and data gathering built in from the start, the researchers had a simple recommendation: cut the TVs off from the internet and use an outside streaming device instead.
LG has not said anything about the findings as of writing.
Source: notebookcheck.net