Learn how your smart TV collects data on what you watch and consume... Here’s how to protect your privacy.
Smart TVs are essential home entertainment devices that allow you to watch television shows, movies, and other content. Smart TVs are essential home entertainment devices that allow you to watch television shows, movies, and other content. However, many people are unaware of their ability to gather information about what is displayed on the screen.
However, many people are unaware of their ability to gather information about what is displayed on the screen. Automatic Communication Recognition (ACR) is one technology that makes this possible, and we'll go over how it works and how it affects your privacy—something you should be aware of.
Automatic Communication Recognition (ACR) is one technology that makes this possible, and we'll go over how it works and how it affects your privacy—something you should be aware of.
ACR technology allows your television to automatically recognize what you're watching.ACR technology allows your television to automatically recognize what you're watching. To do this, it takes small samples of the audio or video and compares them to databases. If a match is found, it identifies the type of series, movie, program, or video game and saves data such as the title, time, and viewing duration. This entire process takes place in the background.
According to cybersecurity firm ESET, in addition to all of the above, this technology can also collect data from external devices connected via HDMI, such as video game consoles or media players, creating a highly detailed record of audio-visual content consumption habits in the home. From a privacy perspective, the most significant aspect is that this feature is typically enabled by default.
We say this because consent to collect this data often appears in lengthy texts that people rarely read carefully. They explain that the collected information is used to generate audience statistics, improve recommendations, and display targeted advertisements, whether on television or other relevant devices.
But what may worry us is that this data may reflect daily lifestyles, interests, and schedules, so since it is sent to external servers, the risk of it being leaked or used for unforeseen purposes increases.
How to protect your privacy on your smart TV
ESET recommends following these guidelines:
- Review the settings after the initial installation. After each update, look for the options related to ACR or display data usage and disable them.
- Use different user profiles if more than one person is using the TV.
- Keep the firmware updated by checking the permissions.
- Consider connecting your smart TV to a separate Wi-Fi network for more control.