Reply
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,010
Registered: ‎06-06-2012

All of the tvs in my house are smart tvs and they include Smasung and Vizio. I have never had any one of them ask me a question.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,828
Registered: ‎01-14-2017

 

I don't think Smart TVs necessarily track viewers with cameras or asking the viewer questions, though if the viewer has Alexa or something similar, it can hear the customer, and if the customer sets up a camera on their TV, it is possible it can "watch" them.  I didn't install the camera.

 

I think streaming does collect data regarding what the customer is watching on their service and this happens when one signs on and off, which one has to do to acccess these services.  That is what one has to agree to.  No agreement, no service.  I think the customer can disable the storage of the customer's data in the customer's account for the customer's own viewing, but that doesn't stop the app from having the data you give to it.  I don't think this can be stopped, and is the price we pay for using these services (on top of any $$$).

 

What customer reports says can be stopped is automatic content recognition, or ACR, a smart TV technology attempts to identify every show the customer watches—including programs and movies the customer gets via cable, over-the-air broadcasts, streaming services, and even Blu-ray discs.  But all companies collect what one views through their own platform and I don't think this can be disabled.  It is like QVC keeping a record of our orders.  Our credit cards and bank cards keep records of our transactions.  Yes we are being spied on all the time.  And companies come up with mathermatical models to figure out something about us and sell us more stuff.

 

One can limit whether they show one ads targeted to the customer's perceived interests, but yes the company knows what the customer is watching regardless.  The limitation is just in the targeting of ads because customer's find it creepy when that blouse I put in my shopping cart on QVC shows up repeatedly as I browse the New York Times online, but the TV version of that.  But it still knows that I put that shirt in my shopping cart, it is just not showing it to us repeatedly.  I also asked the NY Times not to tell me the articles I already read because I know that.  And they do too.  They did stop telling me, which made me feel better.  But I know they know.

 

I think the customer can also limit whether companies share the customer's data in some instances.  Sometimes streaming services or TVs or whatever will allow us to limit the sharing only to affiliates, but an affiliate is anyone they want to affiliate with, and we don't always know who they are, so does it matter?

 

In order to disable the small portion of the tracing that one can, one has to be vigilant, read all the fine print, and find all the settings in each of the devices and apps one uses, at set up and every time the thing upgrades.  Which is frequently.

 

It's a lot of work.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,828
Registered: ‎01-14-2017

@Sugipine wrote:

I just followed through with the set up and then I turned off the wifi connection to my TV but not to my streaming box. That way there is no internet connection to track my TV. Streaming box is a separate thing.


 

Hi @Sugipine   How can you stream without wifi?  You use cell service?

 

TIA!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 38,221
Registered: ‎05-22-2016

@NYCLatinaMe wrote:


 

Hi @Sugipine   How can you stream without wifi?  You use cell service?

 

TIA!


 

 

@NYCLatinaMe 

I use my Directv Stream set-top box to stream. My TV has the wifi turned off on it b/c I never use it.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,822
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Even if you do all of that, they'll still know a lot about you. They'll know what people in your area like and dislike. They'll know what your neighbors watch. They'll know what people in your age, area, demographic watch, do, etc. We're all just data points to the data brokers. Even if they don't know much that's specific to you, they can make very accurate guesses based on what they do know and how others in your demographic act. 

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Super Contributor
Posts: 398
Registered: ‎07-07-2021

If you stream, no matter what device, your data is out there.