Does your TV track you even through the HDMI port? Short …

TVs often analyze what you watch to curate suggestions and serve you ads, even through HDMI-connected devices, but we’ve found a few ways to take back control.

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions.

This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services.

Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. It's been something of an open secret over the last decade or so that your TV and other devices monitor your streaming activity in order to serve you personalized ads or content suggestions.  But did you know that most smart TVs also analyze things you watch on devices connected via HDMI?

A modern smart TV is just as capable of mining a 20-year-old DVD for advertising data as it is your Netflix queue. Thankfully, we've found a few ways to help keep your TV-viewing experience as private as possible. "One of the most significant findings is that ACR tracking occurs even when the TV is used as a 'dumb' display," according to researchers at the University of California, Davis. This is very general data that companies refine with the next method.

There are a few ways to shut down most content-tracking features in the software settings on your TV. Here's how to lock it down: You'll have to get comfortable, because you'll likely have to dig through the Terms and Conditions and/or the Privacy and Data Policy that you probably clicked through while initially setting up your TV. Each brand has this setting in a different place, so if you need help finding it, we've listed the likely menu options: If keeping track of multiple remotes for all your devices, as well as your TV, doesn't seem like a big deal, turning off this feature further limits data exchange between your HDMI-connected devices and your TV.

And because brands can't ever make it too easy for us, you'll have to look in a different place than where you disabled the ACR: If you're like me and don't entirely trust all-digital solutions, you can buy a physical CEC blocker device for fairly cheap. This adapter connects to both your TV and your HDMI device, but it lacks the pin connector required to transmit data. This means that you can block tracking pings without affecting video or audio signals.

The brand BlueRigger offers single devices, pairs, and sets of four so you can shut down tracking on every TV you own. And finally, the inevitable. The only guaranteed way to prevent companies from tracking your data over the internet is to completely disconnect your TV and devices from Wi-Fi and Ethernet networks. They may still share data locally, but without an internet connection, it cannot be sent to a brand's database for analysis.  And if you just can't bear the thought of forsaking digital streaming for the wonderful world of physical media, you can always opt to install a VPN on your TV, which changes your IP address to stop both brands and bad actors from tracking your online activity.  Keep in mind that when you disable these features, it may also affect other ways you can use your smart TV.

Obviously, disconnecting from the internet will disable streaming, but disabling ACR and HDMI-CEC could affect features like voice commands or even the search function.  And this is especially likely when your TV updates its firmware and security settings, so make sure to periodically check your menus to make sure your options are still saved. It may take a little while for you to really see the benefit of blocking data collection, as your TV will still work with the data it has to feed you content suggestions and ads.  But the long-term goal is to protect your privacy and data so you can enjoy your media again, without worrying about a brand looking over your shoulder.

Summary

This report covers the latest developments in samsung. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

---