Your Smart TV is Tracking Everything You Watch and Selling This Information to Advertisers

You may never look at your Smart TV the same way after you read this

Smart TVs, it's hard to find a television these days without the "Smart Function" built in. And while at first glance this may seem like some useful technology, there is a dark side which is rarely talked about.

It used to be you would by a television, and that would be it for 10-15 years. Now, televisions manufacturers have figured out a way to keep earning money off their customers long after they have made the sale.

By selling their Smart TV customer's viewing habits to advertisers, it opened up an additional revenue stream for them. Not everyone cares that their info is being tracked and sold to advertisers. But in order to do so, it should be disclosed in bold print ahead of time before they make a single sale.

This Smart TV Company Went to Extraordinary Efforts to Track its Users

One user of a Samsung TV discovered that when unplugging the Ethernet cable to keep his TV from spying, the TV actually connected on its own to a neighbor unsecured Wi-Fi network in order to keep collecting data.

This gives us some idea how valuable this data is to the company collecting it.

We Need Stronger Laws Protecting Us From 3rd Party Data Collection Tactics

Since we know this data is valuable, otherwise media streamer and Smart TV manufacturers would not spend as much effort collecting it. Since this information has value, they should pay consumers for this data, not others who sell devices that collect this information. Often with tiny print in page after page terms of service, which few take the time to read.

Consumers need tough protection standards of data harvesting. Make the device flash a message front and center the first time it's turned on giving the user the option to opt out.

Another thing that can be done is to make data collection companies pay consumers directly for those that choose to opt in. Instead of paying 3rd parties to making their bottom line richer and stock prices go up even higher. Since they have no right to this data, because ultimately it belongs to those that they are harvesting the data from. It only makes sense the end user should get paid for it. Not 3rd parties that making backroom deals with advertisers.

How to Eliminate Smart TV Data Collection

The easiest way to stop your Smart TV from spying on you is to remove its ability to connect to a network. Most TVs have settings where you can disable its Internet connection. Make sure no Wi-Fi network is connected, and unplug an Ethernet cable if you use one.

Then plug in a media streamer which does not target you for ads like an Apple TV, or Nvidia SHIELD. Roku has based their earnings model on advertising, so they are going to be harder to block from tracking you. Especially since their software depends on the Internet to add channels or get updates.

Your best be will be to use some type of ad blocking service in your Router DNS settings which actually block the websites that these TVs connect to for collecting ad data. It also will keep the Roku TV from showing many ads as well.

But this has the side effect of blocking some desirable content you may still want to watch, like Adult Channels. Because many DNS blocking services will also block adult content as well.

There is a Benefit to Data Collection

For those that don't mind that their Smart TV or Media Streamer is spying on them, there is a silver lining. Advertisers use the data being collected to bring you targeted ads based on your preferences.

So if you are resigned to watching ads, you may as well watch ads which have some interest in the type of products you may actually intend to buy.

Android Streaming Devices Can Also Have Ad Blockers Installed

Android media players have more ability to block or remove ads than Roku or Apple TV. You can go into setting and disable Google Ads services and apps which generate ads on these devices.

Stop Android Ads on Bloatware From the Home Screen of Nvidia SHIELD

Many SHIELD owners were shocked to find that during a recent update ads, for content they did not subscribe to showed up on their home screens. Here's how to disable this and make the Nvidia SHIELD home screen what it looked like before.

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