LG Denies Its Televisions Record Ambient Conversations for Ad Targeting

LG has firmly denied allegations that its televisions covertly record ambient conversations for targeted advertising purposes, following a claim made by gaming website GamersNexus. The video in question purportedly demonstrated that LG TVs could be exploited to listen in on real-time conversations, even when the device's microphone was disabled.

However, LG insists that its TVs only process voice data when the wake word or voice button is activated, and that no data is transmitted to the server unless these conditions are met. The company's statement emphasized that the wake word is detected locally and immediately discarded, thus preventing any unauthorized recording of audio.

GamersNexus claimed to have used a man-in-the-middle attack to hack an LG G5 TV, enabling it to listen in on audio from a remote computer despite the TV being disconnected from the internet. The hackers reportedly intercepted sensitive data by positioning themselves between the user and the web application. The video also suggested that hackers could access the IP addresses of other devices on the network, even if they were not connected to the TV.

LG clarified that the feature allowing smart TVs to scan for and connect to nearby devices is a standard function in most smart devices. The company reiterated that the microphone on its TVs is designed to listen for a wake word and then execute the corresponding function. Experts advise users to remove LG TVs from their network to mitigate the risk of unauthorized data collection and privacy breaches.