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Comment by brookst | Hacker News Reader

I’ve got a Samsung frame used for two things: 1) showing hdmi 1, and 2) showing art when idle.

I guess I’m going to have to just write replacement firmware, aren’t I?

Disconnect it from the network and hook up a streaming device that is relatively trustable (e.g. Apple TV or an open source alternative).

With that much criminal energy behind it, you might even want to remove the wifi module or ground the antenna at this point.

I was about to post "this is overkill — just don't connect it to your access point" but then realized that my neighbor has an xfinity router that advertises the public xfinity subscriber SSID. And it could be using an unadvertised SSID for which they've done a deal with the US carrier cartel members.

If this data is worth enough, they could be using IOT 4G service.

We to date have had no proof of this happening. The best I found was someone on a Samsung forum years ago claiming their TV auto-connected to a public WiFi without proof.

Not saying it isn’t happening, nor that it won’t ever happen.

Anyway - Faraday living room?

I heard you can buy really expensive paint that you can use on your walls, ceiling and floor to get this effect, that you then can paint over whatever color you actually want.

So far the only benefit other than shielding you from electrosmog was to stop having to compete with your neighbors in an apartment complex for wi-fi bands.

I mean there is proof that this does happen, to my knowledge there's no proof with larger brands such as this. But also it's not like every device is tested for that sort of thing by some competent user safety guidelines organization or whatnot.

If you know of a TV that automatically connects to networks without the user's permission, even some tiny brand, please share. I mean that sincerely, I feel like I talk about this every other month with someone.

We have proof they have no moral qualms or other guardrails, and they have incentive. We also have a decent idea how much it costs to connect to ambient WiFi or cell/5gnetworks. It’s a matter of time, which may or may not be already in the past.

I think it’s not worth it to them as long as 99.9% of the users hook up the TV to their home WiFi. Connecting to other networks without user confirmation probably opens a can of worms in many countries.

Nah it still boots to their annoying menus, takes forever to change modes, has lots of annoyances. I’ll be a lean firmware could be a much better experience.

I already use an Apple TV, but the Samsung’s firmware is annoying even as a dumb tv.

It's been well known for the last 5-10 years that Samsung has degraded into one of the worst consumer device manufacturers, whether it's all this tracking, or forcing you to watch ads on the home screen of your expensive tv etc.

No idea why you'd even consider anything Samsung related.

Point me to another matte TV that has the electronics separated so you just need a tiny cable to the TV? I’ll switch tomorrow.

I've just removed my 50€/year Frame subscription. Samsung, if you're reading this, you know why.

The art was good, and I liked having it. I was disappointed that it was subscription-based. From now on the TV will be disconnected from the power supply, until I want to occasionally watch Netflix.

@brookst, let me know if you play with the firmware ;)

I'm sorely tempted to go down that road, I have a few frames. They've never been connected to the Internet, but the software on them is trash - literally the only thing I ever want it to do is display art (in standby) or display the Apple TV connected to HDMI.

Load the art from a flash stick and never connect it to the internet?

don't let it connect to the internet

What I would do if I were manufacturer hellbent on spying would be to search for devices of my own brand nearby to pass data using their internet access, if no access found then extend search - basically p2p/mesh network to pass data.

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