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LG Update Installs Unremovable Microsoft Copilot on Smart TVs, Ignites Backlash
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this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2025
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At some point we'd have to start importing TVs from the other side of the Great Chinese Firewall to avoid unwanted US tech. It's getting ridiculous.
then you get unwanted chinese tech.
It would have to phone home over the great firewall, which is the point
But it would still phone home though? It's not like great firewall blocks all traffic, it blocks traffic the CCP doesn't like.
I know people who watch Chinese dramas on those Chinese streaming apps here in Europe. The great firewall doesn’t block everything. And it’s mostly for outgoing traffic. Like people in China can’t get on Facebook, but people outside of China can get on WeChat, though making an account outside of China is impossible.
No it isn't, I've done so.
From a European perspective, at this stage I think I'd prefer the Chinese tech over the American.
Yes. The way things ate going, at some point it may become less harmful and easier to deal with unwanted Chinese tech than American. Pay much lower profit margins as a bonus.
not judging by the absolute tirefire that is tiktok.
Or get a laptop or some other device so the TV has no choice but work as a simple display. We've come full circle
The new problem is AI running on the TV taking the images sent to it and processing those separately from everything else, and using that to see what you're doing and watching.
Have you been reading? Don’t connect your tv to wifi.
You'll have to rip the networking chip out pretty soon to stop them from sniffing out and connecting to WiFi or other devices connected to the internet.
They aren't including hardware capable of brute forcing WPA2 in a TV.
That's only an issue if someone's still running an open network near you.
Some tvs will attempt to connect with another and use its internet link if available. Samsung tries this.
This is exactly the point I'm making. Once a few companies effectively own the market, what's stopping them from programming their devices to communicate with each other without user knowledge? I remember seeing some post about a reddit guy asking why his Samsung (or other smart brand) dishwasher was using several GB of bandwidth daily.
Hilarious idea: Wi-fi antenna dummy loads.
If that's the case, then you should return the TV if you can or replace the WiFi antenna with a 50 ohm resistor.
So... next step is to cut it's wifi antenna and fill the ethernet port with superglue? Tech is amazing /s
Open it up and desolder the networking chip. It's the only way to be sure. Hope you've got a heat gun!
Just use a DNS blocker ffs.
Sadly not a magic fix
Why not? That plus a good router forcing all DNS queries to you server of choice (e.g., Asus+Merlin) is the way to go.
I take it you never heard of hard coded IP adresses and DoH/DoT.
sighs... I take you never heard that hard coded IP addresses can't bypass you router (using iptables/notables) forcing queries only on port 53 of your server of choice and that DoH/DoT servers can be blocked by a simple DNS blocklist (a feature in both ControlD and NextDNS, for instance).
I thought you just needed "a DNS blocker ffs"
That alone would solve 99% of the problem.
What other statistics can you pull out of your butt crack? Rhetorical question. Here's one I pulled out of mine: blocking DNS requests is out of reach of 98.5% of the vast majority of most users, probably. Hell. That is likely how many users don't even know about it.