If LG violates wire-tapping laws, it's actually your fault.
this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2026
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That's probably only legal in the US.
It’s not legal anywhere. But crime is legal in the US, so good luck getting anything done about it.
But crime is legal in the US
You have to be wealthy for this to apply to you
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I just bought a commercial display as a TV, it's amazing! No smart features, great clarity and brightness. Super durable, lots of nifty nerdy features.
200$ used for a 70"
How's the refresh rate?
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LG bricked my 5.1 sound system because their soundbar failed an automatic update. There is no way to restore the firmware.
fuck LG. never buying their shit again. completely anti-consumer.
I think there’s some confusion in this thread.
This isn’t just about smart TVs.
LG also retroactively hit dumb TVs and dumb monitors, auto-installing a driver through Windows Update to load adware and who-knows-what-else. Dumb TVs are not safe, in this instance.
I know this because it hit me, just this month.
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Looks like it's equally a Windows problem as it is an LG problem. Why the fuck are you automatically installing shit off the internet when peripherals get connected?
Microsoft being Microsoft. In the 90s and 00s, Windows used to auto-launch programs from CDs when you put them in the drive. No check, just looks for an .exe, and silently runs it. Really good way to get a rootkit installed on your machine.
Autoexec makes sense in historical context.
If you were a PC user in the 90s and put an application disk in your PC, you did that because you wanted to run what was on it.
You were going to run it. All autoexec did was save you some clicks.
CD burners weren't a thing in the 90s and only corporations had sufficient resources to get CDs pressed. So the logic goes that if you were big enough to make CDs then your software was legitimate.
Not to mention that pre-Internet there was basically no financial incentive to make viruses. The threat landscape was different.
But the world changed. CDs became common, malware exploded, even big companies like Sony demonstrated they were untrustworthy, and automatically running executables suddenly seemed like a terrible idea.
So yeah. I blame Microsoft for this current Windows Update malware vector because they shoukd have learned by now. But I don't blame them for Autoexec.
It’s an abuse of the Windows Update “contract.” It’s supposed to be for installing drivers so devices function, but manufacturers have been abusing it to autoload bloatware for years.
My parents got a "smart" LG TV not too long ago, and I've been trying to make sure they keep it completely offline, but I have a feeling they're going to give in soon. Planning on trying out a Pi-Hole tomorrow on their network
Keep it offline and don’t update it, Pi-Hole can help, but I wouldn’t count on it. I would also go with NextDNS. Suggest they get a device like an Apple TV and only use that. You can block most of LG’s domains router/DNS side.
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Hey, 42% discount for Linux users !
100 percent discount for pirates, matey.
Yarrrrr
This happened with my LG “dumb” monitor!
2020 35WN65C. Nothing smart about it, yet I got a “install Mcafee” popup out of nowhere, to my utter horror.
Well. I’ll never buy another LG display as long as I live. Great marketing there, LG.
It was a good reminder though. Been too long since I took a chainsaw to my Windows partition.
Look at that. It’s purge o’clock.
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John: We're not gonna make it, are we? People, I mean. Terminator: It's in your nature to destroy yourselves. John: Yeah. Major drag, huh?
Terminator: Judgement Day
Instead of complaining, can we begin a discussion around alternatives? Or could we install an alternative OS on the LG TVs or any of the alternatives? It's difficulty, if not impossible, to buy a non smart big TV.
This isn’t just about smart TVs. Dumb displays and TVs hooked to Windows got hit by this too.
But:
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There is no alternative OS for a smart TV.
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Pretty much all TVs are smart these days.
The solution is to leave the TV disconnected from the internet, and don’t run Windows. Which is quite doable these days.
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You can just not connect it to the internet and use a separate device to connect to your media, such as an Nvidia shield or a small computer with similar power.
Luckily the shields allow for wireless adb, which gives you the ability to rip out all of the bloat and install custom launchers.
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Am probably not buying from LG again, Even if its not a smart TV.
The last time I bought a dumb monitor was in 2024. I won't be buying any for a long time.
That won’t necessarily save you. My 35WN65C is from 2020, and I got the Mcafee popup.
All a manufacturer needs to do is register an old monitor in Windows Update, I think.
Yep, retroactive application of enshittification.
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