this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2026
958 points (99.0% liked)
Privacy
51267 readers
441 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Remember ye old life-hack that you can use earbuds as a microphone in a pinch?
Speakers and microphones are conceptually the same technology. If your tv can play sound then in theory it can be used by a malicious hacker or company to record sound.
Only the cone-magnet-coil-wires part is the same. All the electrical parts are different. There's no way.
As far as i could research it is technically feasible though very impractical and low quality, way easier to sell people voice command features instead.
As i understand it also depends on whether its a “active” speaker or not, has an amplifier behind it.
Tvs usually use a speaker array, a bad actor company could design it in a way that one or two of those can be used to record sound in case the microphone is no longer detected.
An ad collector wouldn’t go that far on purpose, a state intelligence operator who is covertly part of the company might.
Just encase your TV room in lead so it can't get a signal out. Ezpz.
In seriousness completely eliminating the possibility of surveillance is impossible, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't make it as hard as you're willing to give up convenience for.
I have never once and never will talk to my remote control. So this one’s a no brainer. Gonna do my father in laws (rented) comcast remote next.
I had an old electronics kit as a kid that you could use the earphone as microphone. Quality was shit but it works.
SPEAKE(a)R: Turn Speakers to Microphones for Fun and Profit
Seems to have some caveats but I'm not an expert.
Edit: fixed link
Link 404s
Working for me now. Here's the PDF
Thanks man
Oh wow!
Minidisc headphones did this. I did it as a project as a young child.
They’re the same.
I have accidentally done this on my laptop when it thought my microphone was a speaker and played audio out of it.
there is not “no way” when the plcs that read / send to the coils are basically software controlled actuators.
True...so... subtitles it is then.
Reading lyrics it is then.
Been nice knowing you music
probably some mossad-level shit, not for the regular everyday leftist "domestic terrorist" eh ?
I hope not.
I think i can still trust my devices to not be actively listening trough every hole. I can, right?
As long as you don't own an LG TV
And it isn't even just LG. This is a problem for any brand of modern TV with ACR. Even then, internet connected TVs don't need ACR to be spying on you in other ways.
trust you devices' holes, my friend
How many holes do you speak out of?