Thousands of Android TV devices come with unkillable backdoor preinstalled

Vent@lemm.ee to Technology@lemmy.world – 578 points –
Thousands of Android devices come with unkillable backdoor preinstalled
arstechnica.com
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Wait, smart devices might not be secure?! I'm shocked!

Are non smart TVs even still a thing nowadays? I don't own or watch any TV so I honestly don't know how the market currently looks like.

Yes. They are sold for commercial use, e.g., McD’s menu, and are quite pricey.

Depends on your definition of "quite pricey." There's no equivalent of a $250 50" Insignia FireTV, but I've seen Samsung signage displays on Amazon for about a $75-$100 premium over their comparable Smart TVs. They also don't come with a stand, so if you weren't already buying a VESA mount you'll need to add another $40-80. There is a significant premium, but it's not necessarily orders of magnitude.

And they're made better... To be on 24x7. So you're also paying for a better quality display. That's worth paying for too.

Apparently "smartness" has not invaded projectors...per a comment I read here on kbin a while back from a projector owner. This really encourages me to buy one.

It did though, last time I went to a tech store, there was a samsung smart projector that had all the capabilities of a smart tv

Although a projector would need you to have a home with a whole spare wall. And would force you to dim the lights all the time.

They're harder to find, for sure. Especially if you want a large screen.

When I was shopping around a few years ago, the only 65" TV I could find without smart features was a Sceptre, which is Walmart's electronics brand. Speakers so bad that I had to buy a sound bar, and the display isn't that great, but it gets the job done and I don't need to worry about it being an attack vector.

They get called β€œmonitors” a lot (depending whether you need them to pick up cable/airwaves of course)

Not really but you can always get a "smart" tv and never connect it to the Internet. If you want to stream just use an external device you trust like a PC

Yepp - hop on Ebay or some surplus auction site, and search for commercial/signage displays. Don't bother buying new unless you have the money for it IMO, they are expensive unless you get them used

Edit: typo

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