Back to Blog
Samba interactive tv collection5/21/2023 ![]() The solution won't be to everyone's liking though, since it removes all of the handy features that make smart TVs so appealing in the first place. You can learn all about the options in our article How to buy a dumb TV - and why you'd want to. You can buy a dumb TV, one made just for flipping through channels and pulling in local stations. The easiest way to keep your TV private, without all the extra stuff, is to never invite it into your home. If you already have a smart TV set up, you can still lobotomize it by performing a factory reset, which will wipe all of your apps and settings, but also lets you set up the TV like new, complete with the opportunity to skip the Wi-Fi sign in.īut, as with buying a dumb TV, dumbing down a a smart TV and cutting off the built-in features you paid for won't appeal to everybody. (On some sets, an internet connection is mandatory to complete the setup, so this might render a TV so dumb as to be useless.) With no internet connectivity, your smart TV remains pretty dumb. When setting up your TV, don't connect it to Wi-Fi, and don't plug in an Ethernet line. Lobotomize your smart TVĪnother simple method for cutting off any data practices that you find unwelcome is to stop it at the source, the internet connection. From there, you can follow the handy instructions offered by our sister site, Tom's Hardware to learn How to Block Ads Network-Wide With Pi-hole on Raspberry Pi. ![]() To set it up, all you'll need is an inexpensive mini PC, like the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ or the newer Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. This can be done pretty easily with a device called a Pi-hole, a Raspberry Pi-based device that applies ad blocking scripts to every device on your network, and lets you monitor outgoing traffic. If you want to keep the ability to stream while filtering out the ads and tracking you don't want, one option you can try is to actively block just the unwanted traffic on your network. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) Try a Pi-hole Trusting them to honor a checkbox or a settings change that cuts off a major revenue stream is understandably suspect. This is not an unfounded fear, because several major brands have been caught acting a little shady about these practices. There's also the justifiable fear that TV brands won't fully honor an opt-out request. There will very likely still be some information gathered on any connected device, and you will still be served ads and content recommendations, though they may not be fine-tuned to your tastes. Opting out of these practices will eliminate the majority of the worrisome behaviors, but it's not a cure-all. Data collection methods vary widely between brands, and the process is made a bit opaque by burying the options deep in the settings and using benign sounding names for tracking features. But it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Turning off ACR will stop most data collection with a single setting change. This lets the TV have a fairly high level of detail about your viewing habits whether you are streaming through an independent app or watching from an external device. This technology takes a small sampling of the pixels on your screen as a fingerprint to identify what content you're watching. ![]() The biggest offender comes in the form of Automated Content Recognition (ACR). Thanks largely to laws like Europe's General Data Protection Regulation and the 2020 California Consumer Privacy Act, TVs sold in the United States have to offer users a way to opt out of most tracking and data collection. Opt out of ads and trackingįinally, the easiest option is to opt out of the ads and tracking where you can. So here are a few things you can do to fight back against the march of intrusive ads and creepy monitoring. While there's plenty to say about the ethical concerns around these practices, one thing is very clear: People want a way out. And it includes granting the TV permission to snoop on your viewing habits. ![]() ![]() But those brief screens often include user agreements that can be dozens or even hundreds of pages long. Powering on a new smart TV invariably includes a few brief screens of user agreements that rarely get a second glance from users as they hurry to get online and start streaming. The worst part? You likely gave them the okay to do all of it when you set up your TV in the first place. More often than not, however, it's also being sold to third parties. In the best case, that data is being used to provide you with more relevant ads and better content suggestions. Using a variety of technologies, from tracking what shows you watch and which apps you open to matching up your viewing data with web browsing from other devices thanks to location and IP address information, smart TVs are gathering a lot of information. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |