My secondhand LG smart TV seems ad-free.

But the big advantage of buying secondhand I found is all the activated accounts left on it - been watching free films for 18 months! :-)

Just wait till you are forced to have the next LG WebOS update - I'm sure they will fix that.

And while it may be ad-free for now, you should check your firewall for how much encrypted data it is exchanging with LG servers, which will include your viewing habits. Although at least as a second-hand TV, the tracking cookies are someone else's.

It could be worse - soon they'll be putting cameras in all the telescreens, connected to an AI surveillance system to see if you're really watching, monitor your sentiment, and they'll be always-on, complete with Alexa/Bixby/Google etc..

Wow! Just imagine how good the targeted ads will be then!!

... For pornhub, no doubt!

I have just survived one LG OS update, with no ill effects, bu tI have disabled auto updates natch.

We've always been in a trade war with East Asia. And Eurasia. And Oceania.

A sticky square cut from a Post-It note over the camera lens works great. Using a fine-point sharpie to write them a brief love note on the sticky side is purely optional.

It's a bit crap but I find that after a few seconds the TV normally gives up and shows the input on HDMI1 (which is my Sky Q box). But I do hate the way this is going.

I abandoned TV completely some years back and since have settled in a lifestyle where it would be an inconvenience anyway. Seems I made the right choice.

P.S. it was possibly accelerated by seeing mum totally addicted to all the soaps.

P.P.S coat because I'd rather go out for a walk.

We haven't abandoned TV, but I have been careful never to let it connect itself to the internet. If I want to view internet content on it, that's what HDMI cables are for.

The number of devices that know the password to my home wifi is already quite enough thank you.

The number of devices that know the password to my home wifi is already quite enough thank you.

My Sky Q is connected to the internet but it's via Ethernet.

I hope it's on its own VLAN then, with a whitelist of acceptable hosts that it can talk to.

I've done much the same with the one smart TV in this house. It has access to the LAN so that it can see any local media servers which I may have running.

Not that that's particularly useful since the media which I exported from VDR and which I'm serving via minidlna it doesn't cope with all that well, often dropping audio at any point where I happen to have cut out adverts…

I have two smart TVs, one is connected to a Hotbird receiver so can't communicate anything.

The other is only connected to a terrestrial antenna and really only gets turned on to see the midnight clock on New Years Eve.

I wouldn't touch Samsung with a bargepole, had one of their phones a few years back, full of their pre-loaded rubbish, fortunately it was crushed under some steel we were putting together and I replaced it with a better phone.

I have too, when my left me I happily boxed up the big flatscreen (non smart) I bought her to game on and put it in her car for her.

Apart from finding myself switching it off most evenings despite having all you can eat Virgin Cable at the time I object on Scottish political bases to paying the BBC tax to be serially lied to both by commission and omission.

I tried Netflix online recently but cancelled after finding no time or motivation to watch things. I have too much to do, too much to read both online and off. There aren’t enough hours in the day in fact.

I got rid of my TV when my long term partner left me. I'd come home and stick the TV on, cook my dinner, play some music or radio but with the TV on silent in the background. After a week or so I realised the TV was superfluous so I gave it away - not to her!

The loss of it and her left a gap in my routine that felt painful for weeks but other parts of life expanded to conquer the vacuum.

I worked in a tech company which named it's servers after Star Trek characters, and I didn't know any of the TNG ones so I misspelt my Sisko as Cisco. "Don't you have cable or satellite?" "I don't have TV." "I don't believe you!" "Feel free to visit anytime." "What century is your cottage in?" "Well, it's coal powered but I have radio so maybe 1920s?"

The surprising thing was how hostile people were when I said I didn't have a TV, as if I was falsely claiming that to seem superior. It wasn't that, over the past eight years I've barely moved from the couch and have binge-watched everything I missed in the previous decades. Let me be your TV guru, watching nonsense so you don't have to. There are three tech-influenced programmes worth catching up on - Silicon Valley, Start Up and Mr Robot. But only when you need a break from all that reading and living.

Danny, I'm sorry for the loss of your partner.

I had many 'discussions' with the TV licensing bods who didn't believe I didn't have a telly. I collected all the paperwork, sent it registered post to the then head and said I didn't believe she (I think it was a she?) had paid her taxes correctly, and I would like to come to check. Never heard another word.

" The surprising thing was how hostile people were when I said I didn't have a TV "

I don't know why. Last week I plugged in my satellite receiver for the first time since last Christmas for Doctor Who (but I'm not sure if I'll continue, three episode rule...). I watch that on a computer monitor with a CVBS to VGA gizmo as the TV packed up ages ago.

Otherwise, if I feel like watching something, it's Netflix on a tablet.

Indeed the very idea of sitting down at a specific time to watch something on a specific channel seems rather antiquated. Instead, if I feel like an episode of Cowboy Bebop before bed, I'll just stream it.

Television? Something from my childhood, that...

There is ALWAYS something better to do than watch TV.

We watch a few things on iplayer, but that's about it. We do have a TV in the house, a 2016 or 2015 23" Bravia, which does Freeview.

Opted out of crap TV about 18 years ago, it's been blissful!

Many times people ask with astonished tones "how do you keep up with news?" They admit, though, that I am no less up-to-date on news than they are, then scratch their heads when *they* are stumped about items I ask them about.

The amount of junk and crap I avoid inserting into my mind seems staggering.

A side benefit is restricting the fight with Ads to just computers and smartphones, one less front in the war on crapola!

I like watching TV, not a lot, but enough, enough for me to consider the licence fee worthwhile.

OK this adds up to about 4 hours or so a week. But do like also to watch the news.

I mainly use the TV for PS4.

ITV is pants.

But I do set timers for the decent BCB2 and BBC4 stuff.

> information about "your TV viewing history" including "information about the networks, channels, websites visited, and programs viewed on your Samsung Smart TV and the amount of time spent viewing them".

Can you opt out of that stuff? I would have thought you should be able to. If not, are there not implications regarding GDPR?

As for the ads, being able to block them is one thing, but it doesn't mean you'll get the screen real estate back for your own use. :-(

Don't connect it to the internet and you're opted out.

The "smart" features in a TV are useless anyway since they won't keep updating the apps for as long as you have it (unless it is a poor quality product that only lasts a few years) and won't have everything you want so you'll need some sort of set top for streaming anyway.

Yep, my 'smart' tv is used as just a display with no internet connection, then I retain at least some control over the rest of the devices that are internet connect (+1 for pi-hole!)

Yes, I fully agree that having a dumb panel and using something else for the smart bits, which ideally can be user upgraded/repaired/replaced for longevity, is the better way forward.

> having a dumb panel and using something else for the smart bits, which ideally can be user upgraded/repaired/replaced for longevity, is the better way forward.

Of course, your TV watching habits will now be logged and monetized by Roku (or whoever) instead of Samsung.

If you switch your TV to direct-to-air or watch a DVD then they probably can't log that, but it seems that's less and less of how content is consumed today.

yeah, but at least when they monetize the watching habits, they provide decent user experience, not the laggy, insecure and ad-ridden dumpster fire

They can certainly log my viewing habits, but monetizing them is a big leap unless they can find someone stupid enough to buy.

There's always somebody stupid enough to buy. How d'you think the megacorps got megarich?

Of course, your TV watching habits will now be logged and monetized by Roku (or whoever) instead of Samsung

That gives you a choice though. Own other Apple gear and either trust that they aren't logging and monetizing your viewing habits since they aren't selling third party ads, then Apple TV is for.

Own an Android phone or are so deep into the Google ecosystem that you figure more data can't hurt you at this point, then Android TV is for you.

Already buy everything from TVs to toilet paper at Amazon and figure them knowing what you watch can't screw you any worse, then Fire TV is your choice.

Want something that's not one of the big players so at least your data is spread around, then Roku it is.

More importantly, it gives you control. If Samsung abuses the customer relationship on your TV then you have to lump it, or buy a new TV. If one of the above does the same with your set top it is a much easier/cheaper decision to dump it for a new one.

Your iPhone will be listening in to what you're listening to and logging you that way

LG sends an IP packet every time you change channel, but if you pihole the DNS lookup back to LG's servers you can stop that stuff from getting out.

Except for the TV's that don't start up if they can't phone home...

That would be a faulty set, bound to be promptly returned to the shop

"TV's that don't start up if they can't phone home..."

My Samsung TV does that. Couple of years old. No more Samsung for me. Shame really, I've bought Samsung monitors and then TV/monitors since the days of the Samsung SyncMaster ten or so years ago.

Samsung are fighting the losing battle against their TV's just being used as dumb displays. The more they try to prevent it the more market share they lose.

Whilst you may be correct this is only for a very small subset of customers. The majority of people buying consumer electronics (and increasingly white goods) simply don't give a stuff about the adverts or what information is being sent back, either to the manufacturer or anyone else.

Does anyone seriously believe that all these "Alexa" and "Google Assistant" enables bits of tat are not sending a constant stream of data back home. It is how these companies make money.

So much is wrapped up in the clause "allow diagnostic data to be collected to improve your experience" it is not true.

I would return that as defective on day one. At least I'd still have the box!

Yeah, our LG smart TV effectively became a dumb TV a few years back when the the apps (Youtube etc) didn't get updated to work with new protocols. The Sky Q box does all the "smart" functionality now and rendered the Fire TV stick and Chromecast somewhat redundant.

'Not connecting it' is not really an option if, for example, you've bought a UHD device, if all your existing devices, cables etc are not UHD - only by streaming from the apps of the device will you get a UHD source.

However, I've been generally happy with Panasonic screens for the last 10-15 years - they tried ads but they never really went anywhere, I'm glad to say,

But for my eventual next purchase, I *will* be saying that whichever TV is ad-free gets an automatic boost in my considerations. This sh*t needs to stop.

Can you opt out of that stuff? I would have thought you should be able to. If not, are there not implications regarding GDPR?

I think the best opt-out is the one the reader has chosen. Deny ad spammers access to money. If the Samsung's own ads gloss over this issue, might also be worth reporting them to the ASA for misrepresenting their products and deceiving customers.

Oh.. And pi-holes. Now I'm wondering how hard it'd be to modify it to generate spurious traffic in an attempt to poison & devalue data companies are trying to slurp.

Instead of trying to modify pi-hole it'd be simpler to have it log dropped packets somewhere and then have a simple program randomize the payload and wait a random length of time* before sending on to ad-central.

*traffic analysis of arrival times also generates data useful to them.

If you add a seconds USB-Ethernet adapter to your Pi(Hole) you can also use it as a router/firewall and set up some filter rules to do that, it would be amusing to put a random delay on the packets and replay them randomly, years later in big bunches.

If it's logging anything about me it's 'Always watches HDMI 1' :D

Now Sky probably has a sizeable dossier on me but if it means they and their partners keep churning out stuff I like I don't care. I never watch live TV so I don't care if they target adverts - I never see them anyway :)

"If it's logging anything about me it's 'Always watches HDMI 1'

Don't be so sure. Vizio sets will fingerprint the video that's being displayed to figure out what you're watching. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if they're all doing this now. No internet connection is about the only option left, and how long before the set won't even boot up without connectivity?

Some already don't start up without being able to do an E.T.

On my Youview box, which is connected to my LG Smart TV, if I disconnect the internet connection, it goes really slow, puts up an on-screen error and refuses to load up much of the content, including the EPG (it does eventually, but it's annoying to use). Other than that, it's far superior to my 2020 Smart TV to use

GDPR was designed in a Keynesian way of thinking - that is to create jobs for various agencies helping with "compliance".

GDPR has never had in mind protecting anything. In fact it has made the abuse much easier - now companies get a legal basis for processing the data from users giving consent mindlessly clicking popups, whereas in the past they had no consent so they operated in a gray area.

EU also got their bone too - it's impossible to be fully compliant with this legislation, so they have a tool to close any service in the future that will not be aligned with the EU direction.

Interesting about all those down-votes. Does the EU have their own 50 Cent Army. Or just useful idiots.

All that GDPR has done is balkanized the web almost as effectively as the Great Firewall of China. For the first time since 1993 I now have to fire up a VPN with an end point outside Europe in order to view many website in North America when in Europe. At least half of US local news outlets for example block EU access due to GDPR.

And it seems none of the down-voters are aware of just how the Federal Interior Ministry in Germany has been using GDPR to enforce very intrusive censorship on all online opinion they dont find acceptable. Not the only ones, just the most blatant.

And if you think you have any "rights" under GDPR then look at where the most flagrant abusers of online privacy are EU domiciled. Ireland. Which has a sad joke enforcement record. The agency may now have a small Dublin office but for UK readers would you trust any online regulatory agency that was put in some run down small town in the ars* end of nowhere because it was a big wig cabinet ministers constituency. Just think the quality of people you could recruit to work there. At a fraction of the private sector pay. Total losers.

Because thats how you GDPR "rights" are being "protected". You have none.

If you weren't informed about this requirement before you purchased and can't opt out then a report to the ICO seems to be the order of the day.