from the dumb-tech-is-smart-tech dept

Tue, Sep 1st 2026 03:18pm - Karl Bode

Initially the idea of the “smart television” seemed like a good idea. That is until TV makers realized they could make significantly more money loading the television with spyware, tracking your every online choice, then selling all that data to a global assortment of unregulated data brokers.

It didn’t take long for product quality to sag and consumer privacy to become a distant afterthought in a country too corrupt to pass a modern privacy law or maintain the structural integrity of its regulators.

I spent years pining for a “dumb” television to no avail; basically just a high quality large monitor with hardware HDMI inputs and switching and no clunky operating system (no, just not connecting it to the internet wasn’t good enough). Instead of that, we’re now getting the inverse: monitor makers have started force-loading unasked bloatware and ads onto your PC:

“LG lost some trust after a recent report that some of its monitors installed McAfee pop-up ads onto connected computers. Since at least 2024, some of these displays installed an app, LG Monitor App Installer, onto connected computers under the cover of driver updates installed through Windows Update.”

In addition to convincing themselves that that was a good idea, monitor makers are also starting to push into the realm of “smart monitors,” or monitors with their own OS (and behavior tracking software), just like smart TVs:

“LG’s and Samsung’s smart monitors use the same ad-serving OSes that their respective smart TVs do, meaning they’re poised to use automatic content recognition (ACR). Users of LG and Samsung smart monitors, including reviews site RTINGs, have shown the displays being able to track user activity. I asked LG and Samsung if their smart monitors use ACR and will update this article if I get any responses.”

It doesn’t appear to matter that nobody actually asked for this. Or, at least, nobody asked for what this is ultimately going to become. And the companies certainly don’t want to transparently talk about the kind of data they’re collecting. But because tracking and monetizing your online behavior in a country with no modern privacy laws is so broadly normalized and profitable, you’re getting it anyway.

Filed Under: ads, bloatware, hardware, smart monitor, smart tv, software, spyware
Companies: lg, samsung