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If you notice that there are a few "apps" on the TV's onboard PC that are more convenient to use than viewing the same service through a computer - you're right! Manufacturers and content-brokers like to force you into these proprietary platforms so that they can control how you use it.Įxactly like removing your ability to block ads.
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You can install EFF's Privacy Badger, you can install Firefox's Facebook jail if you use Facebook (which I recommend people don't, but that's like telling people not to smoke or drink soda, smh). You'll get Youtube through Firefox, and you can install u-block origin in the browser. You put Linux on the computer, hook the computer up to one of the TV's HDMI inputs, and use the TV like a monitor. Instead, just install Linux on a spare laptop, a cheap Raspberry Pi, or if you want to spend more money on something fancy, get one of those cute miniPC's from System76 or something. If the TV's computer can't connect to the Internet, then it can gather all the data it wants, but it can't phone home, listen to your conversations in the house, spy on you through the camera (if a mic or camera are present - remember that if it has "voice control" or has built-in Alexa, Google, etc then it has a microphone!) etc.
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You just ignore its "smart" options completely, and make sure to delete its wifi settings (and/or disconnect the Ethernet cable, if you hooked it up with a cable).
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