Commentary From Elsewhere: Smart TVs
The Television can be a useful tool. The ‘smart’ television, not so much.
The problem isn’t the TV. The problem is having an internet connected device you don’t have admin control over. This is doubly true when the device has cameras/microphones (as modern smart TV’s tend to). Or is on the network with devices that do (and thus may attack them).
Now I’m not saying don’t watch TV (you probably shouldn’t, but that is a different topic). I’m saying if you do want to watch any of these streaming services, online shows, etc, you shouldn’t let your TV make the connection. It creates too tempting of a target. Have another device plug into the TV, using it as a monitor. Your computer, Roku, Fire stick, etc. Sure, those devices have some of the same problems a smart TV does. But they are also more contained, by their very nature.
Why the concern? After all, if you’ve done nothing wrong, why should you care? Same reason you don’t have a camera installed in your bathroom. Some things just aren’t anyone else’s business. I should be able to sit and watch whatever I want, secure in the knowledge the only other parties involved are ones I invited into the room.
On the plus side, if you don’t connect your ‘smart’ TV to the internet, it should still work fine as a ‘dumb’ TV. At least today. The pessimist in me says at some point they will demand an internet connection to turn on. Which is a good time to return the device as defective.
As an aside, updates shouldn’t matter. The TV should do it’s job, independent of any updates. That they are needed means it is either failing to do it’s job, or is in an actively hostile environment. Neither are true in my living room. If they are, the TV is no longer relevant. Either because it just got disposed of for failing to do it’s job, or because I’ve got invaders to worry about.
I bring this up as I’ve noticed a number of articles on this topic around the internet. While some of them point at ‘new and improved‘ features, others offer the idea we should be avoiding them. So I thought I would toss my opinion out there as well.