Tech

Does opting out of TV tracking work?

Read full article at source ↗

Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 04/11/2026, 14:16:24 UTC.

Briefings

A study by Northeastern University tested whether opting out of automatic content recognition (ACR) on 12 TVs from 10 manufacturers worked. While most brands including LG, Amazon, Sony, and Hisense successfully stopped tracking, Samsung and Roku continued sending data, and Walmart's Vizio ignored the opt-out. The research highlights that ACR is not universally effective across all TV manufacturers.

Key points

• Researchers at Northeastern University monitored 12 TVs from 10 different manufacturers to test automatic content recognition (ACR) opt-out effectiveness.
• Most tested brands including LG, Amazon, Sony, and Hisense successfully stopped tracking user viewing habits, while Samsung and Roku continued sending data despite opt-outs.

Context

Automatic content recognition (ACR) allows TVs to gather viewing information without user consent. This study investigates whether users can effectively opt out of this tracking, as most manufacturers have implemented it but some like Samsung and Roku failed to comply.

Limitations

The study covers only 12 TVs from 10 manufacturers and does not account for regional variations or future updates from other brands. Results may vary based on specific TV models and operating systems.

Generated by Bittrees-hosted qwen35-2b sha256:aaf42c8b7c3c on 04/11/2026, 14:18:47 UTC. Based on publisher-provided feed evidence; may not cover the full original article. Check the source for details.

View archived briefing on IPFS
bafybeigip5mfpq7es2u6gybtrpnfxpzynnaukrmamngy5veae4nvu2y5gm