>If it turns out that too many people are disconnecting their tv, the manufacturer would merely add in a sim card.
Or silently use your neighbor's tv (of the same brand or cross-brand network pact) as access point. Not for streaming video, but just for the tracking.
GDPR requires consent, and no feature is allowed to be removed to coerce you into consent. So at least in the EU, there must be an option to switch off data transmissions.
Wouldn't the free market simply provide modifications with the cell networking removed for an extra $50 or so? The "discount" you get from buying a smart TV verses a dumb TV (which is a niche product so it would cost hundreds more) would still be positive after subtracting the cost of modification.
How so? I can buy a modified Thinkpad (https://minifree.org/product/libre-t440p/ or http://www.cnmod.cn/x210/) because enough people demand it. If enough people demand dumb TVs but their niche prices far exceed smart TVs, then people will begin selling modified smart TVs without cell chips for mutually fair prices.
It's beyond that. Dumb TVs are virtually instant on, those so called Smart TVs take a while to boot. Also the design of the UI were changed a lot by removing or hiding frequently used functions/remote buttons etc.
My TCL 4K HDR Roku TV turns on in 2 seconds. I hit the power button on my Roku TV app on my phone in the remote section and I count to two and there is an image on the display and then I hit right once and then okay and then one second later I see my Mac desktop. Amazing!
My provider gives me a EON set-top-box which is just a smartphone with a ethernet and HDMI port. It's always connected as it's internet-based TV. This is the sad state of reality.
Every "smart tv" is or will be smart enough to connect to the internet via your friendly neighbor's "smart tv", and to do so silently for tracking purposes only.
