Would you be willing to let your Smart TV crawl the web for AI training and other purposes to save money, see fewer ads – or nothing in exchange? It may already be doing it.
The practice was documented in a report by Lowpass.
Apparently, it has been going on for some time on platforms like Fire TV and Roku, but Amazon, Google and Roku have started cracking down on a network called IPIDEA, which had enlisted millions of Smart TVs in a proxy bot network capable of crawling the web but also being rented by hacking groups in China, North Korea, Iran and Russia.
Residential proxy networks
While IPIDEA is no longer allowed on Fire TV, Roku and Google TV, it is unclear whether it is still running on LG's webOS and Samsung's Tizen.
In the meantime, a new residential proxy network has emerged called Bright Data, which uses enrolled Smart TVs to crawl and extract data from webpages, including audio and video, which is then forwarded to Bright Data's cloud servers.
The many Smart TVs in living rooms are being used to bypass IP address blocks linked to AI data centers. Each Smart TV has its own IP, making the botnet difficult to block.
- "We don't do any kind of tracking," Bright Data's chief product officer, Ariel Shulman, said two years ago, according to Lowpass. "We work silently in the background, and completely anonymously. Users don't actually see or don't feel anything."
We are skeptical of the claims that it does not affect performance – Smart TVs tend to slow down over time – and in some cases Bright Data can apparently run even if the user is not actively using the specific app where the terms were approved. It may start as soon as you turn on your Smart TV.
In exchange, users may be offered fewer ads or reduced prices on streaming services.
- "To enjoy Petflix for free with fewer ads, you are allowing Bright Data to occasionally use your device’s free resources and IP address to download public web data from the internet. Bright Data will only use your IP address for approved business-related use cases. None of your personal information is accessed or collected except your IP address. Period," reads the on-screen message from Bright Data in the Petflix app.
Will you allow it?
Amazon, Google and Roku have also apparently restricted Bright Data and other residential proxy networks from being used in their SDKs for apps available on Fire TV, Google TV and Roku OS devices.
However, Bright Data still lists LG's webOS and Samsung's Tizen as partners, according to Lowpass' report. On webOS, it has more than 200 apps listed.
Also read: Smart TVs screenshot what you watch several times a second – even over HDMI
Between ACR (Automatic Content Recognition), ads and proxy networks running on your TV, there are many good reasons to reconsider whether you want to use a Smart TV for streaming. You could consider a more privacy-focused and capable streaming box like Apple TV 4K (full review).
- Source: Lowpass
