Ali Ammar

🇵🇸

[Tristan @Tristan0x]

If you've ever wondered why smart TVs are so cheap, this is why.

@log4j rooted his Samsung and found an always-on hot mic, automatic content recognition, geolocation, network mapping, ad targeting and user profiling, shared with Samsung's "400 partners".

A lot of it can be blocked in <15 min, wrote a basic guide below.

What your TV is doing

The main culprit is ACR (automatic content recognition). Your TV screenshots what's on screen, fingerprints it, and sends it home to build your ad profile. Samsung does it every 500ms, LG every 10ms [1].

What is insane: it happens on connected devices too.
Plug in your laptop, your console, your work machine, and your TV can fingerprint that via HDMI [1].
He also found that if your Samsung doesn't have a mic, it'll look for one from a connected soundbar or bluetooth device.
https://t.co/vNdTnIQ6KF
It's on by default, and you likely agreed to it on the setup screen you clicked through in 10 seconds.

Step 1: Turn off ACR

Samsung: Terms & Privacy → Viewing Information Services
LG: Live Plus
Vizio: Viewing Data
Roku: "Use info from TV inputs"
Sony/Google TV: Samba Interactive TV

Menus vary by model, but those are the names to look for. While you're in there, opt out of interest-based ads, reset your advertising ID, decline every optional privacy agreement, turn off voice recognition, and delete apps you never open.

Step 2: Give smart devices their own network

Put the TV, cameras, speakers and vacuum on your router's guest/IoT network. The logic is simple: these devices rarely get patched. If one gets compromised (getting drastically more frequent with AI), it shouldn't be able to see your other devices or home network.

Step 3: Block trackers for the whole house with DNS-level filtering

NextDNS (cloud-based) is easy and has a solid free plan. Pi-hole is a little bit more work if you prefer self hosting. For simplicity we'll focus on the former.

1. Sign up at https://t.co/IwhafVWVM8 (free tier is plenty)
2. Privacy tab: add a blocklist (OISD is a good bet) and turn on Native Tracking Protection for Samsung, LG, Roku, Amazon (see attached image)
3. Setup tab: copy your endpoint
4. Paste it into your router's DNS settings as DNS-over-HTTPS/TLS (or use the IPs + "Link IP" if your router only does plain DNS)
5. Bonus: block outbound port 53 except to your router. Some devices hardcode their own DNS to get around you

Then open the NextDNS logs and watch how often your TV phones home. It's eye-opening. If an app or update breaks, find the domain in the logs and allowlist it.

Why they do this

TV prices are down 97% since 2000 [2]. Most of that is better manufacturing and brutal competition. But once margins on the hardware hit zero, the cost moved to you.

In Q3 2024, Vizio lost $6.7M selling TVs and made $115.8M in gross profit from ads and viewing data [3]. They've said on earnings calls that they keep TV prices low to grow the audience they sell to advertisers. Walmart bought them in 2024.

This isn't a conspiracy theory either. Vizio paid $2.2M to the FTC in 2017 for tracking 11 million TVs without consent. Last December, Texas sued Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense and TCL over ACR. Samsung and LG have since agreed to stop collecting that data without explicit consent [4].

TL;DR
1. ACR off
2. Ads + voice off
3. Smart devices on their own network
4. NextDNS filtering on the router

Sources:
[1] ACR study: https://t.co/S1IS8lXNbA
[2] Cost of US consumer goods: https://t.co/nclXELXcbd
[3] Vizio Q3 2024: https://t.co/CrVbwc9ZXk
[4] Texas v. Samsung: https://t.co/wFOUdeh1if

[Mohamed Salah @MoSalah]

أنا عارف إنكم لسه زعلانين، بس وعد مني إني هعمل كل اللي في قدرتي عشان أضمن إن دي تكون بداية جديدة للكورة المصرية على الساحة الدولية. التأهل لكأس العالم مش هيكون كفاية، والمشاركة كمان مش كفاية. الفريق ده يستاهل ثقتكم

[Claude @claudeai]

Introducing Claude Code Security, now in limited research preview.

It scans codebases for vulnerabilities and suggests targeted software patches for human review, allowing teams to find and fix issues that traditional tools often miss.

Learn more: https://t.co/n4SZ9EIklG

[Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis @DrLoupis]

BREAKING: ISRAELI FEMALE DETAINEES GIVE STATEMENT ABOUT HAMAS TREATMENT.

“They treat women like queens”
https://t.co/o3Ocs5gCKx

[Censored Men @CensoredMen]

🇵🇸🇮🇱 These Israelis took part in the 'Nakba'.

THIS is how Israel was formed.

Israel was formed through the rape of Palestinian women and children.

Israel was formed through the mass murder of innocent Palestinians.

Israel was formed through the torture of innocent Palestinians.

Israel was formed through the mass displacement of Palestinians who had lived in the land for generations.

THIS is how Israel was formed.

THIS is the history of Israel.

How can anyone support a country that was formed like this?

How can anyone support a nation where individuals who participated in such atrocities unabashedly BOAST about it even today?

Vile.

Revolting.

Disgusting.

[Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 @jacksonhinkle]

🚨🇮🇱 The ISRAELI hostages are DAPPING UP HAMAS!

LMFAO!

[Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 @jacksonhinkle]

🚨🇮🇱 ISRAELI PROPAGANDIST points to a random calendar at the Rantisi hospital as "evidence" of a "hostage keepers' list" with "terrorists' names".

😂 But the ONLY thing on that "list" is literally the days of the week (Saturday-Friday).

[Iman 🇵🇸 𓂆 @imzpali]

I’m losing my mind. Was Hamas hiding in the water bottles???

[Ben Phillips @benphillips76]

I clicked sort by age. There are 6 pages of these before you get to the one year olds.

[Norman Finkelstein @normfinkelstein]

Israel committed another large-scale massacre in Gaza today.  The pretext was that it was targeting a Hamas mastermind of the October 7 massacre.  But if Israel was taken by surprise on October 7, then how does it know who masterminded the attack?

[Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 @jacksonhinkle]

🚨🇮🇱 ISRAEL is a TERRORIST STATE!

[Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 @jacksonhinkle]

🇮🇱 There is NO evidence Hamas raped Israelis.

🇮🇱 There is NO evidence Hamas beheaded Israelis.

🇮🇱 There is NO evidence Hamas burned Israelis alive.

🇮🇱 There is NO evidence Hamas put Israeli babies in ovens.

🇮🇱 There is NO evidence Hamas beheaded 40 Israeli babies.

[Matt Thomas @Trickyjabs]

For historical context, this is probably the most important video you'll ever watch. Let Israelis tell you in their own words how they stole other people's land, how they raped young girls, how they tortured and massacred innocent civilians.

[عُلا @3allashKT]

رح تخلص الحرب ولسه ما عرفوا يجيبوا درجة لون الدم المزبوطة

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇵🇸🇮🇱 Cute kid in Gaza thanking his 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube Gaming Channel

"My dream is to reach 100,000 subscribers 🙂"

He died on October 8 from an airstrike.

He now has over 750,000 subscribers, as the world shows support 😢

[Piers Morgan @piersmorgan]

How are they supposed to hear this msg if you’ve cut off their ability to communicate?

[Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 @jacksonhinkle]

🚨🇮🇱 Haaretz investigation EXPOSES all the ISRAELI LIES from October 7th (just like I predicated).

🇮🇱 Confirmed number dead is 900, not “nearly 2,000.”
🇮🇱 50% were Israeli soldiers.
🇮🇱 Most deaths have signs of being dead during Tank shelling.
🇮🇱 No evidence Hamas burnt any Israelis, but burns occurred from Israeli shelling.
🇮🇱 No beheaded babies.
🇮🇱 Defiling of Hamas fighters bodies, while Israeli soldiers were taken with respect to morgues.
🇮🇱 Number of people Hamas shot less than 100, most were settlers with guns on them.

🚨🇮🇱 Israel has lied about EVERYTHING while committing a grotesque genocide! Share the TRUTH!

[Frankie Boyle Updates @frankieboyle]

There’s also the interesting question of whether you can have a war if one side doesn’t have an airforce; navy; standing army; electricity; food; or water; and is a bunch of kids