STOP YOUR SMART TV SPYING ON YOU
As with any ‘smart’ device that’s always connected to the internet, your smart TV can compromise your privacy by collecting data about you. Although you may be happy with it tracking your viewing habits so it can make recommendations based on TV shows and films you’ve watched, there’s no reason for it to gather details about everything you do. The only way to prevent all data collection is to disconnect your smart TV from the internet, and turn it into a ‘dumb’ device.
Instead of that extreme option, you can at least turn off automatic content recognition (ACR). This is the technology used by smart TVS to collect data about everything you watch across streaming services, terrestrial channels and even DVDS and Blu-rays. The information is then used to target you with relevant ads.
After their use of ACR was exposed in 2017 ( www.snipca.com/39407), manufacturers now let you opt out of the feature when you set up your TV, but the option is easy to miss and you may have bought your set before this consent was required. Here’s how to protect your privacy by disabling ACR on the most popular smart TVS.
Samsung
On newer Samsung smart TVS, including 2019 and 2020 models, go to Settings, then Support and scroll down to ‘Terms & Privacy’ (or ‘Terms & Policy’). Select ‘Privacy Choices’ and turn off ‘Viewing Information Services’. You can also switch off ‘Internet-based Advertising’ to stop your TV showing personalised ads.
On older Samsung sets, select Settings in the Smart Hub menu, and go to Support, then ‘Terms & Policy’. Choose ‘Syncplus and Marketing’ and select ‘Disable Syncplus and interactive marketing services’.
LG
The key setting to disable on LG TVS is the ‘user agreement’ for Live Plus (the company’s name for ACR). On most LG sets, you go
to Settings, then All Settings, scroll down to General and select ‘About This TV’. Choose ‘User Agreements’ and switch off the ‘Live Plus User Agreement’. You can also disable ‘Personalized Advertising’ (or ‘Interest-based Advertisement’) here. If you don’t see ‘User Agreements’, look under Support, then Additional Settings.
Sony
Since 2018, all Sony Bravia smart TVS have run Android TV (now called Google TV – see page 52), and there isn’t a way to opt out of Google’s data-collection privacy policy. However, some older Sony sets also use an ACR system called Samba, which can be disabled. Go to Settings, then System Preferences or Device Preferences (depending on the model), select ‘Interactive TV Settings’ or
‘Samba Interactive TV’ (see screenshot below left) and choose Disable or Off. You can also choose Privacy Policy below this option and enable ‘Limit Ad Tracking’ to prevent personalised advertising.
Other Android TVS
As with Sony sets, you can’t stop Google tracking your viewing habits on other Android-powered smart TVS, such as those from Sharp, Toshiba, Hisense, Philips and Panasonic,, but you can look for a similar option to disable ACR technology in their settings menus.
On an Android/google TV, it’s also worth going to Settings, then Privacy and choosing Ads (see screenshot above), then selecting ‘Opt out of Ads Personalisation’. This will stop Google displaying creepy ads based on your viewing and browsing activities.