Internet slowdowns at home aren't just annoying anymore. They can be hazardous to your health or dangerous if you're in an area that freezes.
Internet service provider Armstrong Zoom has roughly a million subscribers in the Northeastern part of the U.S. and is keen to punish those it believes are using file-sharing services.
The ISP's response to allegedly naughty customers is bandwidth throttling -- which is when an ISP intentionally slows down your internet service based on what you're doing online. In this case, when said ISP believes you're doing something illegal.
As part of its throttling routine, Armstrong Zoom's warning letter openly threatens its suspected file-sharing customers about its ability to use or control their webcams and connected thermostats.
The East Coast company stated: "Please be advised that this may affect other services which you may have connected to your internet service, such as the ability to control your thermostat remotely or video monitoring services."
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/05/pirates-risk-being-left-in-the-cold/
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09 2018, @12:08AM
They are actually still 'smart tvs' under the hood, but AFAIK have no wifi or other provisions for network access. They DO however apparently run linux under the hood based on research into them.
They are both budget brands, may have dead/stuck pixels, but with 2160p at 250-500 dollars for 42->60+ inch screens, they seem like a decent deal, especially if you're trying to get something newer/higher res and don't want it phoning home, or worse yet spying on you with a webcam or microphone built in.