Opting Out of TV Tracking Works for Most Sets, but Not All

Smart TVs use automatic content recognition (ACR) to collect information about viewing habits, and it is often unclear what data is gathered or whether it can be stopped. Researchers at Northeastern University tested 12 TVs from 10 manufacturers to see whether opting out of ACR was effective. The opt-out worked for most models, including those from LG, Amazon Fire TV, Sony Bravia on Google TV, and sets running Vidaa OS. However, Samsung and Roku continued to send some data after users opted out, and Walmart's Vizio TV appeared to ignore the opt-out entirely.