LG Defends Smart TVs Against Spying Allegations — SkimNews
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Gamers Nexus, Level1Techs, and independent security researchers detailed findings earlier this week that LG TVs log and upload user data.
- LG released a statement claiming its "TVs do not continuously record or transmit users' conversations" and that wake-word detection is processed locally.
- Gamers Nexus demonstrated an LG TV keeping extensive logs of ambient conversations long after the AI assistant stopped listening, exposing a gap in the word "continuously" in LG's defense.
- LG said its Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), voice recognition, and interest-based advertising are optional and not enabled by default.
- LG claims ACR uses audio fingerprinting via the TV's internal audio processor (not a speaker) and does not collect screenshots, screen recordings, video recordings, voice recordings, or other audio recordings.
- LG did not address concerns about how much data it collects, who it shares it with, the potential for bad actors to exploit its features, or the misleading way privacy options are presented to users.
Why it matters: LG's reliance on the word "continuously" lets the company technically deny always-on spying while researchers caught the TVs logging ambient audio well after wake-word detection should have ended. The unanswered questions about data-sharing partners and the design of privacy opt-outs leave LG smart TV owners without a clear picture of the full scope of collection.
Ask SkimNews
