Privacy settings you should change
It’s not just Google and Facebook that are spying on you.
Your TV, your cellphone provider and even your LinkedIn account have side hustles in your data. But in many cases, you can opt out — if you know where to look.
I dug into a bunch of popular products and services you might not think of as data vacuums or security risks and found their default privacy settings often aren’t very private. So I collected here some common settings you can change to stop giving away so much. The following links will let you skip ahead to clickable instructions for televisions, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo, cellphone carriers and Wi-Fi routers.
Recently, I wrote about similar suggestions on the worst default settings for Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple. Thousands of you told me about your experiences trying to protect your privacy and asked about how to go further.
What I learned is that despite the rhetoric from tech companies, few actually make it easy to be in control of your data. They hide behind confusing menus.
Many of these companies collect our data so they can sell ads targeted to our specific behaviors and interests. They claim people prefer these kinds of personalized ads — but much more often I hear people complain targeted ads are creepy. You can love technology like I do and still be angry that Silicon Valley is making surveillance the price of using the internet.
The steps I outline below are small acts of resistance. But I’m hopeful we can send a message that we’re going to judge products on privacy — and the wise companies will learn to use it as a competitive advantage.
TVs
Your TV is watching you. Often, default settings (or screens you likely clicked “agree” to during setup) allow smart TVs, streaming boxes and cable services to track significant amounts of personal information. They know what you’re watching and what apps you use.
■ Samsung smart TVs: Some of the new models track how you use your TV to target ads that Samsung inserts on menu screens. During setup, the TV encourages you to agree to a bunch of terms and conditions that include permission for “Interest-based advertisements.” You can say no then, but if you didn’t realize what was going on, you’ll have to dig into your TV’s settings to stop the tracking.
With your remote, go to Settings, then Support, then Terms & Policy, then Interest Based Advertisements and choose to Disable interactive services. (On older Sam-
sung TVs, you might find this under the Smart Hub menu.)
You’ll find similar settings on smart TVs made by LG, Sony and Vizio.
■ Roku streaming boxes: These boxes — as well as Roku-branded TVs made by TCL, Hisense, Insignia and others — by default track the channels and apps you watch.
To tell Roku to stop, use your remote to find Settings, then Privacy, then Advertising and tap Limit ad tracking.
What you give up: More-targeted ads in Roku menus. Roku won’t actually stop collecting data, though.
■ Cable services: These also often track the programs you’re watching so they can target ads.
For Comcast, the largest cable company, turn off the targeting on the Web by logging into Xfinity.com, then going to My Account, then finding Alerts and Ad Preferences, then scrolling until you find Cable Targeted Advertising, tapping Edit near it, and then clicking Opt out and then Save.
Other cable companies have a similar functions with slightly different names. Spectrum from Charter calls it Additional Marketing and Targeted Television Ads. Verizon Fios calls it Relevant TV advertising.
Unlike other social networks, most people assume what they do on Twitter is public. So maybe you’re not surprised to know that it’s in the business of selling your attention to advertisers, just like Facebook and LinkedIn.
By default, Twitter will try to target ads to you based not only on what you do on Twitter, but also your activity outside the social network, including information it buys from data brokers.
Turn that off in the mobile app by tapping on your profile picture, then Settings and privacy, then Privacy and safety, then scroll down to find and tap Personalization and data, then toggle off everything.
What you give up: The ads you see on Twitter will be less targeted, and some other aspects of your Twitter experience, such as recommendations for follows and news events, may also be less personalized to you.
Yahoo
Yahoo, now part of a company called Oath and owned by Verizon, is still used by millions of people for email, to follow news and explore the Web. And like its rival Google, Yahoo is making money by tracking you and selling your attention to advertisers. The good news is Yahoo keeps most of its settings in one Privacy Dashboard: yahoo. mydashboard.oath.com
Three defaults worth changing in Yahoo’s privacy settings:
■ Yahoo tracks what you do across its sites and services. This includes the content of your email and messenger communications — to target ads at you. Turn it off from the Dashboard. Tap Personalized Advertising on our Products, and toggle it to off, or Disagree.
■ Yahoo is tracking your precise location from its apps and websites. Turn it off from the Dashboard. Tap Precise Location, and toggle it off, or Disagree.
■ Yahoo is following you across the Web to provide “personalized experiences” on other sites and — surprise, surprise — deliver more targeted ads.
To turn it off from the Dashboard, tap on Oath Across the Web, and toggle it off, or Disagree.