Your TV is spying on you! Change these settings immediately otherwise the privacy of the entire family will be in danger.

Smart TV sales are increasing rapidly in India. Internet connected TVs have now become common in every home, but there is a big concern associated with this facility. Many smart TVs keep track of whatever you watch. According to the report published in Times of India, this technology is called ACR (Automatic Content Recognition). This may put your privacy at risk.

ACR i.e. Automatic Content Recognition is a technology that continuously checks the content visible on the TV screen. It takes samples or screenshots of the screen every few seconds. It then matches these samples against a large database to find out which show, movie, advertisement, game or even content played on a laptop over HDMI is what you are watching. This technology is not limited to just the internal apps of the TV. Also recognizes content coming from cable TV, gaming consoles or external devices. This feature is on by default in many brands like Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL and Hisense. With this, TV manufacturers and third-party companies prepare a complete profile of your viewing habits.

Your data is sold to advertisers

Data collected through ACR can be sold or shared with advertisers. With this you are shown highly targeted ads. In some cases this data also reaches the analysis companies.

It has been said in the report that ACR can track not only what you are watching, but also how long you watched, what you skipped or rewinded. Many users are not even aware of it because it keeps running in the background without informing them. There have been lawsuits against some TV brands in America because of this. This issue is being considered serious for the increasing number of smart TV users in India also.

How to protect your privacy?

ACR can be easily turned off from Settings in most smart TVs-

• Go to Privacy or System Settings of the TV.
• Search for an option called Automatic Content Recognition, Viewing Data or ACR.
• After this turn it off.

This name may be slightly different in some brands, such as Content Intelligence or Smart Insights option. Check the manual or contact brand support. Turning off ACR can reduce targeted ads and improve your privacy. Smart TVs are convenient for all of us, but it is important to take care of privacy. While buying a new TV, read the privacy policy and check the settings regularly. Also, stop unnecessary data sharing.