Your home should be your private space, the place where you can relax away from the eyes of the world. But if you have smart devices set up, including smart TVs, refrigerators, speakers, and cameras, your home may not be as private as you think. This is because your smart gadgets likely collect a lot of data about you when you interact with them.
With a smart TV, the data tracked can include viewing habits, screenshots to identify what you’re watching, voice commands, app usage, and even metadata revealing when and how often you interact with it. Likewise, a smart refrigerator can gather information about the foods you have to suggest recipes. It can also track usage patterns, touchscreen interactions, and app usage, which can include things like ideas for dishes to cook.
The collected data not only helps companies improve the functionality of a device, but also allows them to make money by selling this information to interested parties. In other words, for manufacturers of smart TVs and refrigerators, the data they extract from you means that to them, you’re more than just a customer. You are also the product. While laws require companies to be clear about how they collect and process your data, this information is often buried in terms and conditions that few people read.
Your data is valuable and for sale
Smart TVs and smart refrigerators bring convenience. A smart TV, for example, offers voice control, app streaming, and smart home integration, while a smart refrigerator can show you its contents remotely, offer alerts if you’re low on a product, and even automatically order items. On the other hand, some models of smart TVs and smart refrigerators send data to manufacturers about how you interact with your device. This data may also be combined with personal information such as your home address, postcode, telephone number and date of birth to create a richer profile.
The data can then be used to create targeted advertisements that can appear on your smart fridge’s touchscreen or TV screen. They might even appear on your phone through the manufacturer’s app and external advertising partners. But how is your data sold and who buys it? Well, they can be sold or shared through data brokers where profiles are bought and traded like commodities.
Buyers can include data brokers like Experian, technology companies like Amazon and Google, and other groups like advertisers, insurers, banks, and more. What’s surprising is that many owners of devices like smart TVs and smart refrigerators are not fully aware that their data is being collected before it is sold and shared.
Take control of your data
Your data traveling beyond the confines of your home risks being exposed to sensitive location or behavioral information, and the possibility that “anonymous” profiles could still be linked to you or disclosed in a breach. You may also receive highly targeted advertisements for particular products, or even political advertisements aimed at influencing your voting behavior. Some will throw their hands in the air and say, “This is the modern world, smart devices require compromise!” » But people more concerned about their privacy can take steps to stop their smart TV from spying on them.
To start, turn off ACR (Automatic Content Recognition). ACR tracks what you watch to personalize ads and create profiles. To find out if your TV has ACR, go to Settings and look for privacy/advertising options such as “Viewing Information Services”, “Smart TV Experience”, “Live Plus” or “Usage & Diagnostics”. If you see any, dive in and put them out. On Google TVs, go to Settings/Device Preferences/Privacy and turn off “Usage & Diagnostics” and “Ad Personalization.”
Via Settings, your TV may also offer features such as opting out of data collection agreements and personalized ads, as well as opting out of usage diagnostics. Likewise, to better control your fridge’s data tracking, go to settings to turn off cameras if the model supports it, turn off app permissions for location (and contacts, if requested), and select anything that lets you reduce or turn off data sharing. You should also try to limit the amount of information you enter during account registration.
