IT’S SAFE to assume that most of us would rather watch the TV than have the TV watch us.

But unlike the televisions we grew up with—simple, one-way devices—modern sets are “smart” TVs, connected to the internet. And TV manufacturers and their partners want to know what you’re watching, what streaming apps you use the most, where you’re watching from and more, because it makes them money. “Advertising is the real profit generator, hence the push for data collection and selling, sharing,” says James K. Willcox, senior electronics editor at Consumer Reports.

TVs use something called automatic content recognition to track your viewing habits. The more a snooping TV can learn, the more businesses can profit by building a detailed profile of you. They may guess your income, education level or even health status based on your choices.

What you can do
“The TV manufacturers have a lot of little checkboxes hidden in the settings menus under System and Privacy, and you really have to dig for them,” says Dan Ackerman, editor in chief at tech retailer Micro Center. “You want to turn off anything that says it’s going to serve you live advertising content or monitor what you’re watching.” In addition, turn off settings that say “automatic content recognition” or “ACR.”

And if you use a streaming box for your viewing, you can turn off Wi-Fi on the TV itself. But remember, that box is also tracking you—as are Netflix, Peacock, Disney+ and other streaming platforms—so check the settings in all those places too. —Edward C. Baig