thanks_shakey_snake

There was another thread with a paywalled article, but here's the actual study that found that smart TVs use "automatic content recognition" to build an ad profile for you based on what's on your screen... including HDMI content streamed from a laptop, game console, etc. Yikes.

At a high level, ACR works by periodically capturing the content displayed on a TV’s screen and matching it against a content library to detect the content being viewed on the TV. It is essentially a Shazam-like technology for audio/video content on the smart TV [38]. ACR is implemented by all major smart TV manufacturers, including Samsung [9] and LG [55 ].

Our findings indicate that (1) ACR operates even when it is used as a “dumb” display via HDMI; (2) opt-out mecha- nisms stop ACR traffic; (3) ACR works differently in the UK as com- pared to the US.

So it seems like you're opted-in by default, but you can stop ACR traffic by simply configuring six different options on Samsung, or eleven different options on LG.

Oh, and this doesn't seem to happen when you're using native streaming apps like Netflix or Disney+, because hey, they wouldn't want to infringe on those companies' rights by spying on them, right?

I keep interacting with systems-- like my bank, etc.-- that require (or allow) you to add one or more trusted devices, which facilitate authentication in a variety of ways.

Some services let you set any device as a trusted device-- Macbook, desktop, phone, tablet, whatever. But many-- again, like my bank-- only allow you to trust a mobile device. Login confirmation is on a mobile device. Transaction confirmation: mobile device. Change a setting: Believe it or not, confirm on mobile device.

That kind of makes sense in that confirming on a second device is more secure... That's one way to implement MFA. But of course, the inverse is not true: If I'm using the mobile app, there's no need to confirm my transactions on desktop or any other second device, and in fact, I'm not allowed to.

But... Personally, I trust my mobile device much less than my desktop. I feel like I'm more likely to lose it or have it compromised in some way, and I feel like I have less visibility and control into what's running on it and how it's secured. I still think it's fairly trustworthy, but just not categorically better than my Macbook.

So maybe I'm missing something: Is there some reason that an Android/iOS device would be inherently more secure than a laptop? Is it laziness on the part of (e.g.) my bank? Or is something else driving this phenomenon?

👀🍿

Sure Todd, lol

For reference (as per Wikipedia):

Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.

— Melvin E. Conway

Imagine interpreting that as advice on how you should try to design things, lol.

Tbf, I think most of the post is just typical LinkedIn fluff, but I didn't want to take the poor fellow out of context.