Privacy

31991 readers

672 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

[Matrix/Element]Dead
Discord

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Chromecast vs built-in apps on Samsung TV? (feddit.nl)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I've never owned a TV before but recently purchased a Samsung TV.

In terms of privacy, is it recommended I use its internal OS to log into things like Netflix or Disney+, or is it better to use a Chromecast for those things?

I figured if I use a Chromecast I can simply not connect my TV to the Internet at all. Of course, it does mean I'll be using a Google product.

And what privacy related issues am I opening myself up to in the first place? What kinds of things do TVs and Chromecasts track?

Anything else I should be considering?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you connect that TV to the Internet at all, expect no privacy. Samsung TVs were used to spy on people for years by spy agencies simply because they are prolific, and have things like microphones and other sensors all over them. Samsung themselves has to admit in discovery that they use said sensors to monitor users, and that's aside from all the data the OS collects. If you do hook it up to the internet, get a pihole on your network and a Blocklist for SmartTVs.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I have a pihole already, so I guess I could use that.

Any idea how much that would block?

And besides the sensors, what data is the OS collecting? Wouldn't the Chromecast collect the same amount of data?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Thankfully, Samsung endpoints should be pretty well covered by blocklists, so I'd say most if not all.

SmartTV OS's record everything you do on the device and create massive databases of metrics about user habits which they then use to target you with ads, and also sell back to companies like Netflix, Discovery, Paramount...etc.