Samsung and LG TVs take a screenshot of what you're watching every second
In this way, the "televisions" understand what you are watching and offer relevant advertising. The function can be turned off, but it is very difficult to do so.
Popular smart TVs from Samsung and LG can take screenshots of the screen while the user watches TV programs. As reported by New Scientist citing research by cybersecurity experts in the United States.
Researcher Yash Vekaria, along with a team of programmers, found that models from two major manufacturers take hundreds of screenshots per minute. Samsung TVs can take a screenshot every 500 milliseconds, while LG does it once every 10 milliseconds. It is assumed that the televisions take screenshots to analyze the screen content and then offer relevant advertising based on the information obtained.
The experiment proved that even when someone uses the TV as an external display for a laptop or gaming console, the televisions are still watching. Experts connected Samsung and LG TVs to a special server running network traffic analysis software. The program acting as an intermediary could see which screenshots or audio data the televisions were loading.
According to the test results, smart TVs do not take screenshots when launching third-party streaming apps like Netflix. But as soon as someone plugs in a TV stick via HDMI or turns on satellite TV, the televisions start eavesdropping.
When a user connects their laptop through HDMI just to view something on their laptop on a large screen using the TV as a display, they are unaware that their actions will be recorded.
The media consider this a serious security issue because screenshots may contain personal information. Moreover, the manufacturer should inform consumers about how their data is being handled without consent.
In addition, experts urge for making the function to create screenshots for contextual advertising easily turnable off. While it can currently be deactivated, this requires delving into settings and toggling between 6 to 10 parameters, which is not straightforward for an inexperienced user.