GoKawiilAn investigation by Gamers Nexus found LG smart TVs sweep local networks to map phones and nearby devices. Tests also showed the sets can capture microphone audio with the screen off — they then upload data once reconnected to the internet.
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LG smart TVs continuously sweep home networks, map secondary devices, and log microphone audio while appearing to be turned off, according to a new 135-minute-long video published by Gamers Nexus (see below).
In more detail, Steve had been working with Level1Techs and independent security researchers. Together, they tested retail LG OLED models including the G5. Network packet captures taken through Wireshark showed the TVs actively scanning the local area network for unrelated hardware, including phones and smartwatches. Apart from internal IP addresses, the sets also gathered the names and signal strengths of neighboring Wi-Fi networks along with location data.
This data collection pool is fed into into LG Ad Solutions (the company’s targeted advertising arm). LG claims they have roughly 216 million smart TV sales globally. On the other hand, the ad division says it has access to 363 million secondary addressable devices in the US alone by tracking other hardware on the same network. The sets also run Automated Content Recognition (ACR). It samples on-screen audio and video into digital fingerprints to log what users watch across inputs. While ACR has been well documented in the past, new testing shows the data collection goes much further than just that.