Subj : Smart TVs are spying on you :)
To : All
From : Feoh
Date : Wed May 17 2023 02:38 am
I just moved back to Academic (MIT Online Learning) after having worked for 6 years at Amazon.
One of the moments where I recoiled in revulsion at how the product I was building was being used was learning that the cloud filesystem I was working for was used in TV pixel sampling for advertising demographics.
So, your Smart TV, if you have it connected to the internet, is sending packets every few minutes containing sampling pixel data on what you're watching.
So even if you're watching a DVD or an old VHS tape, advertisers are recording that and using that demographic data to sell you things.
I know I found this rather disquieting when I learned it.
Only solution is to disconnect the smart TV from the internet, or put up with it like I do :)
One of these days I'd love to use Python/SCAPY to spoof the traffic the TV is sending back to the mothership to make it look like I'm watching something like C-SPAN 24/7 :)
