Check the manufacturer's website to see if there are any updates or security patches that can be applied. Explore the privacy settings on your set, and change any default passwords if you can. This information should be in your manual, or on the vendor's website. Find out what kinds of data your specific model is collecting, what is done with that data, and how you can limit that. In closing, here are a few more tips to boost the privacy and security of your smart TV. Or if you can find the camera on the face of your smart TV, a piece of black tape can be used to cover it. Even if you're not concerned about hackers, do you really need to control your TV by pointing or grunting?Ĭheck the settings to see if these features can be disabled on your TV. Microphones and speech recognition tech allows you to change the channel or search for a show.Īs I mentioned earlier, a determined hacker with knowledge of a remotely exploitable vulnerability could use your TV set as a way to watch you.

But it will also scold you if you're too close to the screen. Sony's Bravia Cam allows you to use hand signals to pause, adjust volume or turn off the TV. LG sets with embedded cameras have supported hand gestures for a decade. What About Those Cameras and Microphones?īuilt-in cameras can be used to enable hand gestures to control your TV. LG calls it Live Plus, and Sony has Samba Interactive.Ĭonsumer Reports has instructions for turning off ACR on most major TV brands, including Hisense, Insignia, LG, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TCL, Toshiba and Vizio. Samsung calls it Viewing Information Services, on Vizio sets it's Viewing Data. But each manufacturer calls it something different, and it can be hard to find the privacy settings. The 'permissions' are granted (on an opt-out basis) by the user during setup, and the option to disable data collection is available in the TV settings. In 2017, Vizio was fined $2 million by the FTC for selling this data without disclosing the surveillance to customers. The same is happening as you 'surf' the content on your TV screen. You visit a website selling shoes, and you see ads for shoes. ACR viewing data was also sent to Netflix, even if the service was not present or activated on a set. You can then be targeted with ads on your TV, smartphone, and desktop computer for products that fit your profile.Ī study done by Northeastern University found that many smart TVs sent the ACR data to Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Your viewing profile is bundled with your IP address, from which your approximate location and socioeconomic status can be determined. But it exists primarily to collect your viewing data and sell it to data brokers. If it can determine what kind of shows you watch, it may be used to recommend similar content.

It can be used to identify copyright violations, and also to personalize your viewing. If you've ever used Shazam on your phone to identify a song, you can see show this would work on your TV.ĪCR does have some legitimate uses. By 'watching what you watch,' whether it's on streaming services like Netflix, cable, satellite or broadcast TV channels, even DVDs or video games, ACR can identify the content by comparing snippets of onscreen data with a database of known recorded works. Smart TV sets use a surveillance technique called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) to figure out what you're watching. And if they hack your smart TV, they can use your Wi-Fi network to gain access to other devices on your home network, such as desktops, laptops, baby monitors, and even your 'smart' appliances.īut the larger threat to your privacy comes from within. If a hacker gains access to your connected TV by exploiting a vulnerability, they could use those built-in cameras and microphones to spy on you and your conversations, while you sit transfixed on your couch. Later, built-in microphones and cameras added features such as voice commands, hand gestures, and facial recognition, allowing you to control your viewing without so much as picking up the remote.īut both the internet connectivity and those advanced interaction features can be a liability. What makes a smart TV smart? When they were first introduced, it was the ability to connect to the Internet, and bring streaming channels and movies to your living room.

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