Why does my Sony Android TV tries to contact flingo.tv every second??

[Mefte1]

Hi,

I´ve disables sambatv after a factory reset but my TV is still trying to contact flingo.tv every second. It´s running Android Nougat.

Does anyone know how to disable this behavior?

Does anyone see the same behavior?

Sample log from today. The attempts are 24/7 for months now.

2017-08-31 20:21:22     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:21     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:19     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:18     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:17     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:16     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:15     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:14     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:13     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed    
2017-08-31 20:21:12     IPv4    flingo.tv    192.168.x.x    Pi-holed

God knows what else the TV sends out to external websites.

Br,

Marco

[Pete_B]

Hi Mefte1

Thanks for your message and welcome to the Community.

Someone will look into this and get back to you as soon as they can.

Regards,

Pete_B

[cass_n]

Hi @Mefte1,

I have escalated this for you, so someone from the Support team will be in touch soon to assist you with this issue.

Cheers,

Cass

[Mefte1]

Spoiler

Thanks, I will wait for someone to get back on this.
Further reviewing my proxylogs i don´t see any other suspicious connections other than some google stuff and sony.net.
Br,
Marco

[Mefte1]

And Sony support reply below.

 We can confirm that it is normal for the Samba interactive TV app to access the network on your TV since it is connected to the internet.

So even  if you disable sambatv it will still send stuff back to them. Bad situation and I consider this spyware which you cannot opt out.

[Kuschelmonschter]

It is quite alarming how Sony acts these days. They also state that several dozen wake-ups from standby per night are normal, see here.

Sony cannot be trusted anymore today,  adding more and more bloat-/ad-/malware and removing useful features like the TV guide inside Video & TV SideView app.

This Sony Android TV is easily the worst CE product I ever owned. They didn't want to take it back so I started writing a review, bringing this to the attention of people and other reviewers as well.

[Kuschelmonschter]

BTW, did you disable Samba TV like that?

[Mefte1]

Hi,

Yes, it was disabled like that and confirmed by remote support. I find it worrying that even when disabled it still tries to go out and connect to external servers .I havent looked at the payload but I expect it to be encrypted or obfuscated. Perhaps when I have some spare time in the future I might investigate.

Similar behavior noticed also here and this is not me posting this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bravia/comments/6jpmpr/anyone_know_how_to_kill_flingotv_connections/

There will probably be a line somewhere in the license agreement which will excuse them and you have waived all rights to privacy when using the TV.

Perhaps it's time some TV manufacturer would produce an open and powerful Android TV to flash it with custom roms like on mobiles. No bloatware, adds and other suspicious behavior.

I am also stuck with this TV until it dies so I will further restrict it's access to the internet and keep an eye on it.

PS, anyway of disabling the mic in the remote other then plugging it's hole(s) or simply desoldering it from the PCB?

Br,

Marco