Has anyone seen smart TVs connect to unsecured WiFi without permission?

I am pretty sceptical of this specific rumour and I suspect it's an urban legend.

But regardless of that… it's totally plausible that a manufacturer could end up doing this, and as such it presents a risk vector. I can even see how it might be done semi-accidentally by a bad engineering team.

An even bigger risk is corporate-owned mesh networks, like Amazon Sidewalk. It's quite possible that TVs with Alexa support will end up also having access to this network, and will use your neighbour's Echo to ship data back even without you knowing. Or even a built-in LTE/5G transceiver.

Without strong regulation of privacy and consent, this will be a persistent and dangerous issue.

Can recommend the digital signage route (there's not a lot of opionions on that written down. At least I found no reviews/forum posts at all...). Got mine (Samsung QM49N) from an Amazon-clearance sale (marked down 50% - apparently they couldn't successfully break existing supply chains this iteration).

Initially I was a little bit worried that it might have really bad black levels/image quality, given that it's rated for 24/7 and 500cm/m² of backlight brightness and the fact they offer a "plain" TV-like model for a little bit less. I was pleasantly suprised that these fears were unfounded and you can even adjust the actual backlight (most TVs will do this dynamically and so have fun in your sunny living room...) and it has really great viewing angles (for VA. I own a 32" VA-display as well ...). I'd say picture quality is on par, if not better than most of what I could have gotten at a similar price point (remember price was reduced from €800 to €400) and compares okish to the €900€ TV of relatives (the latter has less banding (and yes, every TV in the 3-digit range has groce banding))

So: if you see a digital-signage display marked down and are shopping for a TV (without nuisances and inbuilt-tuner). Try it. It might be a really nice experience!

I rebooted my router yesterday while watching something. My Amazon Fire stick, upon losing connection with the default wlan, automatically connected to an available, unencrypted Vodafone hotspot from nearby and automatically showed a popup window offering me the different connection options in the middle of the movie. Shady and creepy as hell.

Related to this, where would this stand legally if your device automatically connected to your neighbour's network?

In the UK, you can be arrested for unauthorised use of a Wi-Fi network, under our Computer Misuse Act law. [0] I think this would be unlikely if the network was wide open, but I believe it could still happen in principle.

edit I missed this from the linked article. Looks like you can't be arrested for accidentally using an unsecured Wi-Fi network.

> If the network was hacked then a crime has been committed, but our friends over at Out-Law.com confirm that connecting to the wrong network by mistake is not a crime

[0] https://www.theregister.com/2008/10/30/wi_fi_arrest/

Here is a report of a Samsung television connecting to the neighbor's passwordless wifi

https://forum.developer.samsung.com/t/if-you-choose-to-not-c...

I’m curious about this one as well. However I quite fear that if they do then they will switch to 5G for newer models which will be more of a PITA to avoid.

I also remember reading something on r/pihole about Amazon Echo connecting to open networks. The mods took it down then as unrelated. Can't find it now.

Also

> And also would be quite interesting to understand how it works.

What do you mean how it works? If network=open, connect and start uploading.

Along these lines, has anyone ripped the WiFi module out of their television? I'd gladly take a soldering iron to mine to ensure it won't phone home.

I always read about the DSTVs and Monitors arguments, and every time I see it mentioned I go search for somewhere online where I could buy one (or at least look at some). But every time is a disappointment. All I can ever find is showcase pages from NEC or sellers in the US where you'd have to buy them in bulk.

Is there anywhere that ships to the EU (possibly IN the EU) where I could go take a look and buy one of those DSTVS?

I think a bigger risk is a partnership with something Amazon Sidewalk, where it won't be the increasingly rare unencrypted suburban WiFi AP you need to worry about but rather your neighbours digital assistant, speaker, lightbulbs, etc.

I call BS on anyone who claims a TV is using HDMI over Ethernet or some hidden LTE connection.

When I bought my Sony TV I had no idea it was an Android TV until afterwards. I’ve never connected it to my WiFi and it’s never connected up updated itself. I can easily monitor everyone connected to my network.

Consumer Reports has a great article if anyone is interested.

https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/how-to-turn-off-smar...

I recently bought a Samsung Smart TV (they simply offer good value for such a little price). Best thing to do is to never even start connecting it to a WiFi network and use an external TV receiver. That way it most certainly will not connect to any network whatsoever. I also never agreed to any terms that are on the start display, which may also add to that. Just switch to your Input channel (external device etc..) and enjoy your "dumb" TV.

Seems like a great way of creating plausible deniability by those caught doing nefarious things (assuming the case was already weak enough).

I believe the courts have ruled that it is still considered unauthorized access even if the target doesn't make any attempt to defend themselves (see the AT&T hack). However I wouldn't hold my breath that it would be prosecuted that way.

I only have N=1, but I know my LG TV doesn't do that, given how my child loves to grab the TV remote and press the Netflix or Hulu buttons, which opens the app and then complains the TV has no internet access.