#PASSWORDS PLUS TV SHOW HOW TO#

Amazon says this is used to improve its services and personalize your experience. You can opt out, but the company says marketing offers will be less relevant to you.Ĭollect App and Over-the-Air Usage Data, which collects info on what you watch if you use an antenna, and the frequency and duration of your use of third-party apps. All these can be turned off.ĭevice Usage Data collects information on how you use the TV, for marketing purposes. Under Privacy Settings there are options for Device Usage Data, Collect App and Over-the-Air Usage, and Interest-Based Ads. Click that and you’ll see Privacy Settings. Next, scroll to the right until you get to Preferences. To turn off programming data collection, go to Settings through either the home screen or the button on the remote. Regardless, you do have to agree to Amazon’s privacy policies and terms and conditions during the initial setup. For example, without an account you have access to a more limited selection of streaming apps, and you won’t be able to use voice commands with Amazon Alexa. You don’t have to have an Amazon account to use these TVs, but you will need one for some features.

(Of course, if you watch anything from Amazon Prime video, the company also knows those details.) However, the system does collect information on programs you watch using an antenna and through streaming apps, such as Netflix, that are available through the Fire TV platform. Unlike other companies with smart TV platforms, Amazon says that it doesn’t use ACR technology to track all the shows you watch and that it doesn’t collect data through a cable set-top box or any other non-Amazon device connected to TVs. The Amazon Fire TV Edition platform is built into several models from Insignia and Toshiba that are sold through Amazon and Best Buy.

#PASSWORDS PLUS TV SHOW HOW TO#

The only way to prevent that is to avoid connecting to the internet, which means ceasing to use it as a smart TV.īelow, Consumer Reports shows you how to turn off data collection for the following TVs: Amazon Fire TV Edition, Android TV, LG, Roku, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio. You can also turn off ACR after you’ve set up your TV, though sometimes the settings can be hard to find, as we discovered in a study we published in 2020.īelow are instructions for turning off ACR in the major smart TV platforms, covering sets from LG, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio Android TV sets from companies such as Hisense, Philips, and Sharp Roku sets from brands including Element, Insignia, Hisense, and TCL and Amazon Fire TV Edition sets from Insignia and Toshiba.Įven if you turn off ACR, your smart TV will continue to collect information for its manufacturer, possibly including your location, which apps you open, and more.

However, you’ll need to read each screen carefully, and some TV brands have several privacy policies and user agreements you need to look through. The company eventually paid $2.2 million to settle cases with the Federal Trade Commission and the state of New Jersey.Ī result of that case is that TV companies are more careful to get your permission before collecting viewing data, and they’ve revised their privacy policies and terms of use so that you can decline certain amounts of data collection when you first set up a new TV. The use of ACR technology wasn’t widely known by consumers until 2017, when Vizio got in trouble with federal and state regulators for collecting such data without users’ knowledge or consent.

You can’t easily review or delete this data later. But the data can also be used for targeting ads to you and your family, and for other purposes. The data is transmitted to the TV maker, its business partners, or both.ĪCR, which goes by a variety of names depending on the TV brand, can help your set recommend shows you might want to watch. Technology called automatic content recognition, or ACR, attempts to identify every show you play-including those you get via cable, over-the-air broadcasts, streaming services, and even DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

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