LG's recent software update has forcibly installed Microsoft Copilot, an AI assistant, on smart TVs without removal options, sparking widespread user backlash over privacy, bloatware, and loss of control. This highlights growing tensions in smart devices, where monetization often overrides user preferences.
My brother in christ.
Exactly. This is already so many levels 9f wrong up to this point.
You buy a $400-$3000 tv and eliminate big parts of the feature set (dlna, phone/laptop as remote, airplay/casting, etc) because you let their nonsense prevent you from connecting something you purchased to the internet so the vendor won’t ruin it.
Or you buy any other brand where rooting isn’t even an option and the ad penetration is often worse because they’re almost all based around amazon, androidtv, or Roku, all of which are much more developed and mature. With tricks like not allowing you to set a custom dns for Adblocking (Roku does this) or hard defining a cloudflare DNS to circumvent ad blocking dns if you set it at the router level (android does this).
If all the options are shit, make one that works
I have tricks too. My firewall forcibly redirects any outbound request on port 53 to the internal ip of my pihole. You’ll take my dns and you’ll like it Roku.
That workaround is slowly coming to an end as these devices start making DNS requests using DOH, which you will not be able to redirect, and will be much harder to detect and block.
The cat and mouse game of having a piece of technology you bought work with your interests in mind continues…