London - ALsharqiya January 21: Smart TV screens are constantly connected to the Internet, which has prompted the manufacturing companies and operating system developers to pay special attention to these electronic devices. This constant connection allows the collection of data related to the user's location and the way he uses the TV, even if he has not registered an account with the relevant companies.
According to the German consumer protection organization "Consumer Reports", smart TVs collect valuable information, such as what the user watches, when and where he watches it, as well as how he watches it and for how long. Although this data collection cannot be completely stopped in a simple way, users can at least reduce the level of tracking and spying on their activities by disabling some technologies such as "Automatic Content Detection" (ACR) and changing some other settings.
ACR technology recognizes the content the user watches on the smart TV, regardless of its source. By analyzing this data, recommendations are made for content that may interest the user. Although this feature may be useful at times, the data collected can also be used for targeted advertising or for other purposes that are difficult to verify how it is processed or removed.
Data collection methods vary from device to device, but most smart TVs rely on technologies to collect user data. Therefore, it is important for the user to search for the privacy and data protection settings in the device’s application menu and adjust them according to their preferences. If the user wants to turn off ACR or other data measurements at the operating system level, they can find options to disable these functions in the TV’s settings menus. Sometimes, this includes adjusting the “Advertising Identifier” which helps reduce tracking by resetting it periodically.