You misunderstand how it works. This worked by fingerprinting audio and video at the TV display level, it's not part of the networking layer. If your content was shown on the TV you could be tracked regardless of source.
Thanks and noted. If I ever end up getting a SmartTV (due to dumb TV's no longer being sold), it's never getting on my network and going to be banned at the mac address level.
It needs to be physically disconnected or on a network without Internet connection. The Mac address is the easiest to spoof. If it has any kind of radio like WiFi you need to de-solder it, as the data could be collected by a car driving by, or via your neighborers Wifi.
> as the data could be collected by a car driving by, or via your neighborers Wifi.
What?
How is it going to connect to your neighbours wifi? How is someone driving past going to connect to your TV? Is the TV going to set itself up as an access point?
I'm completely behind not connecting random devices in my house to the internet but suggesting they are somehow trying to get data out by connecting to random networks or will just broadcast it for anyone to hear is a bit much.
Multiple compromised nodes working together to identify you.
We already see this with things like ultrasonic communication. A compromised (has sketchy app installed) phone could, for example, communicate with your television or computer speakers and mic via ultrasonic frequencies to determine what ads you have seen, or what digital streaming content you are consuming.
An app could take it even a step further and use a root exploit and secretly take a short recording every 10 minutes or so to relay to someone who wants to know what song or movie you were consuming.
This isn't just possible, things like this have already been found in the wild.
And you can bet your bottom dollar these snaky companies would keep their mouths shut under a NSL if it meant they could keep tracking you.
It doesn't even require anything that complex. If I remember correctly, even if your smartphone never connects to wifi AP's, while thhe WiFi radio is on, it does periodically scan for AP's in the area while either surrendering some identifiable information or establishing a pattern that can be used to identify you.
I think the parent is being purposefully hyperbolic ... however, a router manufacturer could have a ghost APs that domestic goods could try to send via. It perhaps wouldn't be the weirdest invasion of consumer privacy story either.
In the UK nearly everywhere send to have a BT WiFi signal as they give out routers with a commercial side-channel that anyone can pay to access. If your smart device had access to BT WiFi they'd get a signal out in many places regardless of whether the TV owner had WiFi.
The neighbours might have an access point without a password. But I think if the vendor is really interested in collecting personal data he could just install a GSM modem with a prepaid SIM card inside so that the device doesn't depend on Internet connection.
