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Comment by kator | Hacker News Reader

All this said I'm more concerned about Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) on smartTV you buy in the store and never even realize it's phoning home with everything you watch...

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> I'm more concerned about Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) on smartTV

You’re more concerned about privacy when it comes to TV viewing than medical data? What a strange hijacking of a serious thread…

When you buy a medical data collection device and it collects medical data that’s not exactly a surprise

The problem isn’t the collecting, it’s who has access to the data.

Nah, yeah the problem is also collecting the data in that way for to begin with

Unless encryption is advertised as a feature, it’s a safe assumption that vendors that host your data will have access to it, the cloud being someone else’s computer and all that.

Whataboutism in fancy clothes.

If you're concerned about that do not give internet to your tv and use any kind of tv box instead (shield tv, apple tv, etc).

How long until they have built in cellular or use a mesh?

I'm certain there are a non-zero number of TVs that either attempt to auto-join popular wifi hotspots (xfinity/tmobile/starbucks/etc.) and/or have cellular connections for telemetry.

Thinking more on this I think a business opportunity in the future will be companies that design hardware stacks that can go in random appliances that can gather usage information in the name of telemetry.

I give it +/- 5 years before an OTS coffee maker at walmart phones home.

So that TV box can phone home instead of your smart TV? What's the point?

Different homes are being phoned. If that matters.

Use a TV box that doesn't phone home, obviously. Also, don't buy a smart TV but a monitor.

with things like amazon's sidewalk you might not have any choice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Sidewalk

I wouldn't use Apple TV, Shield or other proprietary black boxes if you want a private setup. Linux on a mini-PC with Plasma Bigscreen, your own over-the-air antenna for local TV, VacuumTube for YT, and the high seas for other content.

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