Ahead of the Black Friday sales, which sees hundreds of Smart TVs slashed in price in order to tempt customers to upgrade before Christmas, the FBI field office in Oregon sent out a post to warn consumers about the risk posed by these internet-enabled TVs. The note read: “Beyond the risk that your TV manufacturer and app developers may be listening and watching you, that television can also be a gateway for hackers to come into your home.”
Of course, it shouldn’t be a surprise these devices are vulnerable to hacking. After all, any internet-connected gadget could potentially be hijacked by online crooks. However, it’s more surprising the FBI is alerting US shoppers about the dangers of data collection from Smart TVs.
This is a process conducted by the TV manufacturers themselves in order to better target advertisements, optimise their software to TV owners’ habits and more.
According to the New York Times, Samba TV – which develops a software called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) which is capable of keeping tabs on viewer information to recommend similar shows – has collected data from 13.5 million Smart TVs in the United States alone. ACR is used by a number of big brands, including the likes of Sony, Sharp, Philips and TCL.
Of course, users need to approve software like ACR before it can start monitoring everything that appears on-screen. But there are plenty of text-heavy agreements you need to rubber-stamp during the set-up process of any modern Smart TV, so it’s safe to assume some stuff gets a tick without proper scrutiny.
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If you don’t like the idea of a small piece of software tracking everything that crosses your screen to tailor advertisements – and aren’t sure whether you agreed to any data collection during the set-up process, here’s how you can disable ACR from your TV, whatever the brand.
How to turn off data collection on your smart TV
Samsung
First up, open up the Home menu then head to Settings > Support > Terms & Policies. Switch off the options beneath Viewing Information Services and Interest-Based Advertising. In some older Samsung Smart TV models, you might find this option under SyncPlus and Marketing.
Privacy-conscious viewers might also want to switch off the option for Voice Recognition Services. This will prevent Samsung from using any data from your voice controls …although, it will also stop you from using said voice controls, too. So, you know, swings and roundabouts.
LG
On older models, LG brands its data collection feature as LivePlus. To ditch it, all you have to do is launch Settings > General > LivePlus, where you’ll find the option to turn off the data collection.
If you’re using a Smart TV from 2018 or newer, you’ll be able to shutter any voice information or “interest-based advertisements” by navigating to Settings > All Settings > General > About This TV > User Agreements.
Sony
The newest Sony-branded TVs all use Google’s Android TV operating system. Given the company that develops the software, it won’t surprise you to learn that you’re not able to opt-out. What you can do is decline Sony’s Bravia policy – as well as the Samba TV ACR technology.
To do that, you’ll need to head to Home > Settings > About > Legal Information > Privacy Policy. And on newer TVs, you’ll need to head to Settings > System Preferences and then turn off Samba TV.
Vizio
Vizio was forced to delete all of the data it collected on viewers prior to March 2016 following a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission. Following that decision, Vizio says it no longer uses the feature on any of its TVs.
To double-check that ACR is definitely disabled on your Smart TV, head to the Menu, click System > Reset & Admin and the find the Smart Interactivity toggle, and set it to off.
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