Welcome back to Protect Our Privates. Today we’re talking about something sitting in almost every living room in America — the smart TV — and why one of the best things you can do for your privacy is to never, ever connect it to the internet.
What your TV is really doing
That big beautiful screen on your wall isn’t just showing you content. It’s collecting it. Smart TVs run a technology called Automatic Content Recognition — ACR — which takes silent snapshots of your screen every few seconds, matches them to a database, and builds a detailed profile of everything you watch.1
And here’s the part that’ll make you put your remote down: it doesn’t matter if you’re streaming, watching cable through an HDMI input, or playing a video game. The TV is watching. Always.2
The biggest offenders
Samsung, LG, Vizio, and Roku have all faced scrutiny or legal action over their data practices. Vizio paid $2.2 million to settle FTC charges after it was caught collecting viewing data from 11 million TVs without telling users — then selling that data to advertisers and data brokers.3 Samsung’s privacy policy once even warned users not to discuss personal information in front of their TVs. That’s not a joke.
Who’s buying your data
The companies buying your data aren’t just advertisers. They’re data brokers — nefarious data collection companies that buy your viewing history, combine it with your purchase history, your location data, your browsing habits, and build a file on you. That file gets sold to anyone willing to pay for it. Bad news bears, all of them.4
Make your TV dumb on purpose
Here’s what we recommend: disconnect your smart TV from the internet entirely. Pull the Wi-Fi, unplug the Ethernet, and let it be what it was always meant to be — a screen.
If your TV forces you through a setup that requires internet, give it a fake Wi-Fi password to get past the screens, then leave it offline forever.5 For streaming, use a dedicated device — Apple TV, Fire Stick, or Roku — where you have far more control over privacy settings and data sharing.
Your TV is a screen. Nothing more. Make it dumb. Your private life will thank you.
Sources
1 Electronic Frontier Foundation, “How TV Makers Are Tracking Your Viewing Habits”
2 Wired, “Your Smart TV Knows What You’re Watching”
3 Federal Trade Commission, “VIZIO to Pay $2.2 Million to FTC, State of New Jersey”
4 Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, “Data Brokers and Your Privacy”
5 Consumer Reports, “How to Stop Your TV From Spying on You”
