In the old South Africa it would have remotely triggered a flame-thrower

While I can appreciate their desire to prevent stolen goods being used, I'm rather more concerned that they are able to brick them remotely. Apart from themselves bricking the wrong ones in error (and don't say it can't happen) there is also the risk of some script-kiddie finding out how to do it and considering it great fun to wipe out a city's worth.

Surely, they are able to identify where they are (at least by IP) when they are working.

It is FAR more interesting that Samsung is "keeping with our values to leverage the power of technology to resolve societal challenges" by bricking TV's stolen from THEM, but not from everyone or anyone else , as the statistics linked shows that housebreaking is the #1 theft in SA.

So you steal from me [Samsung], we'll brick you.

You steal from our customers? Well, err, we'll get back to you on that "societal change" bit sometime soon...

Typical speaking out the side of your mouth, corporate mealy-mouthed double-standard-speak

If you have ANYTHING that gets updates via the internet, it can be bricked remotely. It comes down to whether you believe they would act on it in a way that hurts you.

Remotely bricking known to be stolen devices does not hurt you, unless you make a habit of buying "brand new, unopened!" stuff on eBay from a new seller for a price suspiciously lower than you can find anywhere else.

Whatever the original intention of Samsung - and security threats like hacks aside - a remote kill switch hands over a lot of power over the user/owner of the device to the maufacturer.

For the lifetime of the product.

Once implementing such kill-switches is regarded as accepted behavior, this power can also be used in for example commercial disputes such as conflichts during a lease or rent of the TV.

Or establish restrictions on re-selling used devices.

In everything more complex than a toaster ...

The number of ways this kind of power can be abused is staggering ...

At this point, the smart thief would disable the wi-fi module and sell it as a network-disabled device.

(would make them rather easier to find and trace by scanning classified ads though)

...to connect a "Smart" TV to the internet? If one could still purchase a non-smart (and thus non-hostile) TV, there would be no need to wear a ski mask and a voice changer while watching anything disliked by this government (or the next)

I am with you, but unfortunately we are in the minority.

You can buy non-smart TVs (updated May 2021)

https://www.smarthomeperfected.com/best-non-smart-tv/

Any "smart TV" can be a non-"smart TV" - just don't connect it to the Internet at all.

It's just that until you do connect it - it just displays a Samsung logo and a message telling you to connect it.

I thought it was the TVs they disliked that they bricked.

It wasn't very long ago that Samsung inadvertently bricked huge numbers of Blu-Ray players due to the most basic of bugs in an XML parser:

https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/18/samsung_bluray_mass_dieoff_explained/

Samsung's ineptitude is why I tell people who buy Samsung TVs to simply use them as displays. Get a Roku or Apple TV, and don't connect the Samsung at all. Problem solved!

Please excuse me. I seem to have mislaid my will to live.

Could you please wait until tomorrow?

So you can brick my TV at will ?

Fuck off, Samsung. I'm happy you can preserve your investments, but I will not buy or use any equipment that functions under someone else's orders, or with someone else's permission.

It's for full compatibility with Apple devices ...

I like my samsung TV although every software version seems to make it less responsive and you feel you have lost something quality wise in the performance.

I dream of finding some mythical way to put the original software version on that worked so well.

If like a friends Samsung mine stops working after the 5y warranty period I will assume its something they do and dig the dumb old plasma out and watch less tv to balance the green credentials.

They seem to be trying to be too clever and it will bite them on the ass.

I can remotely disable my iPhone - I can remotely do stuff to my car - and I can remotely shut down a whole bunch of electronics in my house. I like being able to do this - but I'm not so naive to assume that the manufacturer also can't do these things to my equipment if it so chooses. So I can't see how this is any different.

Can they come and brick my Samsung Smart TV as well please? At least it'll stop the fucking useless, intensely annoying and utterly illegal (in the EU) ads popping up on the Smart Hub bar which I didn't ask for*, didn't sign up for* and didn't agree to*. Samsung have become scummy bastards who'll sell their grandmas for a nickel; I used to like them and their stuff, but their approach to customers recently has been one of total contempt.

* There's always at least one commentard who says "well that's what you get when you tick the license agreement you didn't read" - well I did read it. In fact I still have it from when I bought the TV. And there is nothing in it about ads. And the electronic EULA for the Smart features doesn't count, because it's embedded in the TV and thus you need to buy, open, install and register it before you can read it. Which is illegal in the EU. And if you reject the EULA you can't use ANY of the smart features at all, which is also illegal in the EU because the ads aren't necessary for the functionality, and they also don't form a component of the financial transaction with a benefit to the end user, because I paid full price for the TV with no subsidy for ad functionality.