'Solves that problem'
There's still a few non-Smart TV's around but they're harder to find...
If we've learned anything about tech ethics, assumption is the mother of all fuckups. First up, no one has proven that certain brands of Smart-TV's don't probe nearby neighbor's Wi-Fi and then phone-home! Routers without passwords in apartment complexes are common, and even more common are unsecured tethered Wi-Fi connections from cell phones etc.
Cases such as this have been documented as well. Take a busy family home where the neighbor's kid comes over one day and links your Smart-TV to their Wi-Fi router without permission / knowledge. You end up finding out 6 months later etc.
This is such big business now, expect some micro-antenna comms between nearby Smart-TV's, or undocumented 4G-sim feature, or just some general inescapable embedded micro-network tech coming soon to a Smart TV near you (on sale).
Don't think any of this is possible? Maybe you just haven't seen Vizio's ethics in action. Remember, if the GDPR / Cali fine is less than the profit, then it only makes good business sense to continue. Think chemical spill fine versus clean-up costs etc...
~~~~
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/02/08/shocking-smart-tv-manufacturer-vizio-spies-on-customers-using-advanced-big-data-analytics/2/
https://adexchanger.com/digital-tv/vizios-data-business-back-updated-privacy-policy-expanded-partnership-ispot-tv/
Biting the hand that feeds IT
