5 major TV brands got caught spying on their users with hidden Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) last December: Attorney General Paxton Sues Five Major TV Companies, Including Some with Ties to the CCP, for Spying on Texans | Office of the Attorney General
Companies are now forced to allow users to remove their consent from data collection, and we tried it. We can confirm it’s a confusing experience even when you are actively looking to disable it. Roku even paired the consent to capture your voice for remote control voice command with ACR.
While, of course, for the best privacy, never connect your TV to internet. There is still a long way to go to even have informed consent. I’m still glad this lawsuit was able to move the needle towards consummer rights a little. You can see the other active lawsuits here: Smart TV ACR Lawsuits: Samsung Settles, Four Manufacturers Still
If you want details on how obfuscated consent was, you can check our article here: Testing Smart TV Tracking: Opting Out Was Harder Than It Should Be - RTINGS.com