What the Tech: Your TV is spying on you
That gleaming 85-inch smart TV you just bought for what looked like a steal might not be such a bargain after all. The hidden cost goes far beyond the price you paid at the register. The truth is, your smart TV is probably spying on you. Not with a tiny hidden camera, but in a way that is far more subtle and, in many ways, more invasive.
So is your TV spying on you? The answer is yes, though not in the way most people imagine. Some models do include cameras for video calls, but the real surveillance happens silently in the background through sophisticated data collection.
Smart TV manufacturers, along with companies behind popular streaming devices like Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Google TV, have a name for this practice. They call it post-purchase monetization. That simply means they keep making money from your television long after you bring it home. They do this by tracking what you watch, how long you watch it, and what you search for on the device.
The information is incredibly valuable. Once collected, it is sold to advertisers who use it to deliver highly targeted ads. You might notice that after you search for a product on your phone, an ad for that same product appears on your TV screen or even in your email inbox. That is not a coincidence. It is the result of a data ecosystem working behind the scenes to connect what you do across devices.
The data is not usually tied directly to your name, but it is connected to your home’s IP address. Because your phone, laptop, tablet, and smart speakers all share that address, advertisers can follow you across platforms. The result is a steady stream of personalized ads appearing everywhere you spend time online.
The incentive for TV makers to do this is huge. The money they make selling this data to advertisers can be far greater than the profit from the television itself. This explains why smart TVs have become so affordable. Manufacturers can cut the retail price because they know they will make far more in the long run by selling your data. In this business model, you are the product.
For those who find this level of tracking unsettling, there is some good news. Most smart TVs include privacy settings that allow you to limit or disable data collection. In the menu, you can usually find an option to limit ad tracking or opt out of data collection. Doing this will not stop ads from appearing, but it will reduce how personal those ads feel. Instead of seeing commercials for items you recently searched for, you might start seeing ads that have no connection to your interests.
The bargain you got on that big screen might still be a great deal, but it is worth remembering that the lowest price often comes with the highest hidden costs.
