Consumer Control of Internet Based Appliances

Future Vision
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Samsung vs LG: Which TV brand is best?

Back in October 23 I wrote the following (below) concern to Choice product reviewers. Or at least thought I had. But the above review here flagged by Choice is typical of its bland response to consumer protection that has gradually settled over the organisation.

Chris (CHOICE Customer Service)
Oct 27, 2023, 10:26 GMT+11

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for taking the time to write to us with this feedback.
We’re always interested in hearing about your experiences, concerns and views.
We’ve passed this on to the appropriate teams here for their consideration, and if we are able to investigate it further we will let you know.
You may also want to post this on CHOICE Community, our online forum where you can ask questions, share advice and help others.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if there’s anything else we can help with.
Cheers,
Chris
Our friendly Customer Service team is here to help you. Email [email protected] or call us on 1800 069 552, Monday–Friday, 9.00am-5.00pm AEST.

40x40 Daniel Nicholas

Oct 26, 2023, 09:52 GMT+11
whenever you do a review on smart products, such as mobile phones, televisions fridges etc, the review fails to address the ease of controlling the smart technology.
I am an ex IT practitioner, so no slouch even if dated, but I am unable to get control of my phone or television. There is no ability to turn off updates for example. you can reject them but it will continue to ask you to update on every use.
There seems to be a general perception that updates are important, for protection for example. But this is mostly not true. They are a way of updating the algorithm to get more marketing information, or to make it more difficult to opt out.
There is mostly no way within an app, to turn off syncing with the cloud, even if it is not useful to you. most apps will continue asking for connection till you tire of it.
TVs just seem to find smarter ways to push controlled content and advertisement.
Even if it was to the users’ detriment (mostly unlikely) the user should have the options to opt out.
Your reviews don’t offer any observations to the user around the smart technology within the reviewed appliance.
Hope you can consider this, or at least experiment with taking back control with your own technologies.

My point in this instance, two years down the track, is that Choice is predicated on consumer protection, But it has not been proactive in flagging this critical consumer issue to its readership or given any hint that it even considers it.
Long time Choice supporter Daniel

1 Like
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Welcome, @daniel

The Choice Community provides an opportunity to share thoughts/ideas. For readability by others, moderation you opening post has had the bolding of you previous communication with Choice removed.

Your post covers a number of observation/concerns that have arrived with the evolution of all types of smart consumer devices. There are other topics across the Community related to some of these generic issues which can be found using the search tool (magnifier symbol for those wondering near the top RH corner of the web page/screen.

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My TV, Smart Phone etc gets regular Warnings of Updates…we are told the Updates contain Security Protection.
If people don’t wish to Update don’t. I will Continue with Updating my Devices for Security!

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Perhaps that tells you everything that is wrong with the current situation. You are forced to make a trade-off between

  1. the potential for even less control and the potential for the loss of functionality, and

  2. security.

So the TV manufacturer actually benefits from putting defects in the software that runs in the TV.

I think the generic answer to the OP is … get a dumb TV, never connect your TV to any network, connect a PC via HDMI to the TV1, connect the PC to the network. Whatever you can access on the PC can be viewed on the TV.

Edit: PS

1 Make sure that you disable ethernet-over-HDMI if your equipment happens to support it.