In living rooms around the world, a quiet dispute has emerged over whether the screens we trust for entertainment are also listening to our lives. LG, whose smart televisions occupy an estimated 216 million homes globally, has flatly denied investigative findings that its sets record ambient audio and scan home networks — even while appearing to be off. The story touches something older than any technology: the question of what it means to invite a device into the intimacy of one's home, and whether the terms of that invitation are ever truly understood.