LG denies accusations of spying on users through TVs

LG categorically denies accusations it monitors users through smart TVs; manufacturer calls concerns about data collection and eavesdropping unfounded, report says Tom’s Hardcore. Earlier, a survey surfaced on the Internet in which the author claimed that 216 million LG smart TVs were spying on people and recording audio data, even when turned off.

Image source: lg.com

Previously, YouTube channel Gamers Nexus released a two-hour video that talked about the security and privacy issues of LG TVs. The South Korean manufacturer’s TVs constantly collect and send user data, the authors of the investigation said – an activity that allegedly doesn’t stop even when there’s no network connection or when the device goes into standby mode. They scan Wi-Fi networks, record audio and analyze incoming audio and video signals to identify what the owner is watching. Experts documented that the TV detects other devices on the local network, including phones and printers. The most serious accusation is that LG TVs record sound through the built-in microphone even when in standby mode – the data is saved for later transfer.

“The claims in the recently released video are not true. LG TVs only process voice data when the user presses and holds the voice control button on the remote control, or when the far-field voice recognition feature is activated and a password is recognized (such as “Hey LG”).”the company told Tom Hardware. Except for the above circumstances, “Televisions do not collect or record conversations that take place in the room”the company emphasized. If the password cannot be recognized, the speech data from the TV is not transmitted to the server and the audio processing to recognize the phrase is performed locally on the device. LG acknowledged that the smart TV feature set does include network scanning for detecting other devices, but it added that this is a standard feature on all TVs and other smart home devices.