You find the ACR setting, you disable it, and you reasonably assume the TV stops collecting data about your viewing habits. That assumption may be wrong, depending on who made your television. Recent cases of secretly tracking users suggest this problem extends well beyond smart TVs.
Northeastern University researchers tested 12 smart TVs from 10 manufacturers across eight operating systems. Their Watching the Watchers study ran thousands of automated experiments to answer one pointed question, described by the study’s authors this way: “We measured where that data goes, and whether turning the feature off actually stops it.”
Portugal Takes LG to Court
A consumer association is asking courts to decide whether ineffective privacy controls constitute a breach of consumer rights.
Citizens Voice, a Portuguese consumer association, has asked courts to investigate LG smart TVs over alleged privacy violations. The group wants courts to assess whether LG’s data-collection practices violated consumer rights, and whether responsibility could extend to retailers as well as LG.
The request follows a September allegation that LG created “216,000 spy TVs.” LG denies that claim. Citizens Voice is asking courts to compare LG’s response with testing and reporting by Portuguese outlet TEK NotĂcias. That reporting reportedly included allegations of audio storage during offline periods and security vulnerabilities in LG’s webOS platform. The case echoes concerns raised by a surveillance app built to covertly monitor targeted individuals without their knowledge.
None of those allegations have been proven in court. This is a legal request for investigation, not a verdict.
Who Honored the Opt-Out and Who Didn’t
The Northeastern findings are specific: some platforms passed, and others showed a troubling pattern.
The study found that opt-outs fully suppressed attributable ACR traffic, in the tested scenarios, on LG webOS, Sony Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, and VIDAA platforms. That matters: this is not a blanket indictment of the entire industry.
Samsung’s Tizen platform showed a different pattern. ACR-consistent traffic continued after opt-out in testing, including across all 30 tests involving Samsung’s own streaming service, according to the Northeastern study.
Vizio’s SmartCast showed zero observable reduction in traffic to an endpoint researchers associated with ACR once the opt-out was selected. Roku’s opt-out worked for external inputs in the tested scenarios but did not appear to cover Roku’s own streaming service. Researchers note that gap may reflect the setting’s limited scope rather than outright deception.
One critical caveat applies across the board: much of the traffic was encrypted. Researchers identified patterns consistent with ACR activity, but they could not independently verify the contents of every packet. The findings indicate potentially ineffective opt-outs, not confirmed proof that every transmission carried viewing data.
What the Industry Needs to Fix
The gap between a settings confirmation and verifiable network behavior is where consumer trust breaks down.
The clearest improvement manufacturers can make is to build opt-outs that produce measurable, auditable changes in network behavior, not just a checkmark in a settings menu. Roku’s situation illustrates a second problem: when a setting’s scope is narrower than a consumer would reasonably expect, that gap should be disclosed clearly.
Citizens Voice is asking the Portuguese courts to consider whether a control that doesn’t function as advertised constitutes a consumer-protection breach. Citizens Voice is also seeking potential action involving retailers, recognizing that the point of sale is part of the accountability chain.
What You Can Do Right Now
Until manufacturers build opt-outs that produce verifiable results, the burden of protection falls on the consumer.
Disable ACR where available, but the research suggests it may not stop all related traffic on every platform, so treat the setting as a first step rather than a guarantee. Disconnecting your TV from the internet and routing all streaming through an external device is a stronger risk-reduction measure , and learning how to stay safe from other common digital threats is equally worthwhile.
If that is not practical, review your manufacturer’s privacy policy, limit unnecessary account connections, and keep your TV’s firmware current.
