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I've been looking into upgrading my TV and some the new "smart" TV's have some appealing features ie wifi, ethernet connectivity and built in web browsers etc, so I was curious about the hardware and software they run to provide those features. After a quick investigation I found out they run a somewhat primitive OS and web browser that runs on single user profile without any real form of file permissions. Most of the software seemed to be based on Javascript or HTML of various incarnations so alarm bells started to ring. Some of the more recent "Smart" TV's have inbuilt webcams and microphones so they can deliver Skype services so with the lack of file of permissions and the interwoven Java coding I was starting to see a few potential exploits that could be possible if such a device was connected to the internet. Anyway it seems like this is a valid concern and after a quick websearch I'm at the stage where I would not use the inbuilt OS and browser functionality and adopt other strategies for viewing web content on a TV. I'd consider an android/linux based web TV/ mini PC where I can set permissions and implement a firewall policy and actually monitor what's going on with the connection (and disable javascript) to be a much safer way to connect to the internet. From what I can see these new "smart" TV's have the potential to be a window into your living room complete with eyes ears. The camera and microphone have no hardware switch to turn them off and are solely dependent on software, so if a hacker or some prick from a security organisation decides to hijack your camera and microphone then you will have no way to stop them. Then there's other considerations like data collection for advertising purposes where a profile is built on your web habits and advertising is targeted to suit that profile. A quick websearch on "smart TV's spyware" confirmed everything I suspected Source https://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/black-hat-smart-tvs-are-perfect-target-spying-you Something to think about next time you're near your "Smart" TV and doing something you'd rather keep private even if it's on standby.