14 DAY TRIAL // It was just discovered that the LG Smart TVs were sending private data to its servers and the company came out and admitted to the accusations.
The Korean manufacturer said that the TVs were behaving in ways that they shouldn’t be and that they have been collecting channel, TV platform and broadcast source data from some units, even when the feature was switched off.
Despite the situation, they affirm that when the feature operates normally, it simply provides viewing recommendations based on what the users are watching. Similar, if you’d like, to how Netflix works.
In the meantime, however, they’re sending over unencrypted data each time the channel gets switched.
The Korean company also addressed the allegations that the LG Smart TVs were sending over names of files on connected USBs. They say that the feature is actually part of an upcoming service that will get released soon, which uses the Internet to search for more information about a film or TV show.
The company is setting up a firmware update that will fix the issues, forcing the device to respect the user preferences.